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Activities Report - August/September 2011

Workshops & Outreach Events

‘Ungoverned Spaces’ addressed in Mongolia by APCSS outreach team

 

A four-day workshop in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia entitled “Northeast and Central Asia Transnational Security Challenges: Ungoverned Spaces – Physical and Virtual” concluded Sept. 9 with synthesized group presentations intended to share best practices and open the way for future discussions on security issues.

 

The Comprehensive Security Responses to Terrorism (CSRT) “mini-course” for continued education and connections was co-hosted by the Mongolian APCSS Alumni Association in partnership with Mongolian Institute for Strategic Studies and George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies (GCMC).

 

Drawing from material from APCSS’ CSRT course and additional adjunct presentations, the course was intended to identify commonalities in security challenges among the participants through a broadened understanding of each nation's and sub-region's issues.

 

In addition, the curriculum intended to enhance knowledge on the probabilities, vulnerabilities and impacts of the physical and virtual security environment. The course also enabled discussion and collaboration on regional and collective approaches to diminish, mitigate and defeat these security challenges.  Finally, participants were empowered with collaborative tools to continue developing and nurturing networks through alumni engagement activities.

read more...

 

 

Attendees include more than 40 participants and Subject-Matter-Experts from Mongolia, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and the United States. Participants are security practitioners and academics from those nations.

Conference participants pose for a group photo at the Chinggis Khaan Statue near Ulaanbaatar during a cultural event the day before the start of the workshop.

Faculty Publications & Interviews

Note: The views expressed in these articles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, U.S. Pacific Command, the U.S. Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.

 

Shared regional interests draw Japan and India closer

 

APCSS professor Dr. Jeffrey Hornung looks at the growing relationship between Japan and India in an editorial written for the Japan Times.

 

According to Hornung, “Over the past decade, India and Japan have built a relationship of strategic cooperation to promote collaboration on regional and global issues. An examination of the current situation indicates that their relations are a sum greater than its parts.”

 

Until recently, the two countries had very little interaction. They do not share a territorial dispute or a record of hostilities. However, they do share some underlying values.

 

Click here to read about these shared interests online.

 

 

 

Asia’s Great Naval Rivalry

 

To avoid a future clash between China and India, a maritime conference is needed to set some rules. This was the topic of an editorial written by Dr. Mohan Malik in the Wall Street Journal (Sept. 5, 2011).

 

In the editorial he discusses the “geopolitical chess game” that could intensify as Chinese and Indian navies show off their flags in the Indian and Pacific oceans with greater frequency.

 

Click here read the full article.

 

 

‘Check-book diplomacy’ in the Pacific: A troubling return?

 

“Not long after the ‘truce’ between China and Taiwan, suspending their competitive bidding for diplomatic recognition among Pacific island states, the game has seemingly returned. This time a different cast is at play, revolving around the little-known republic of Abkhazia and alleged Russian financial inducements to win recognition for Abkhazia’s secession from Georgia.”

 

This is an excerpt from a new article by Dr. Al Oehlers printed in a recent edition of the East Asia Forum. In the article, Oehlers discusses the impact of “check-book diplomacy” in the Pacific and asks questions of how this going down this path could ultimately hurt these fragile nations.

 

Click here to read the full article online.

 

 

The long afterlife of war in teardrop isle

 

APCSS Professor Shyam Tekwani reviews a new book and a British Channel 4 documentary about the civil war in Sri Lanka in “The long afterlife of war in teardrop isle” written for Tehelka Magazine (India). 

 

“Atrocities are believed in or disbelieved in solely on which side of the river you are,” says Tekwani. Both the book and the documentary are critical of the government’s efforts to put an end to the civil war and tend to put weight on what he believes are exaggerated claims by the Tamil Tigers.   

According to Tekwani, “The truth about atrocities is that they happen and will happen in irregular guerilla warfare, with inexperienced soldiers with much cause for fear in hostile territory, where the enemy wears no uniform, strikes from ambush, and where women and ten-year-olds are adept at killing. 

 

 

"I have some direct evidence as eyewitness of atrocities during the years I covered the war in Sri Lanka. I know that some were committed by all sides. There was never a year when atrocities were not committed by one side or the other, and there was barely a single occasion when a side believed in the same stories simultaneously.”

 

Click here to his reviews online.

 

 

 

Merits of a layman as Japan's defense minister

 

"Japan has suffered from a leadership deficit since the charismatic Koizumi Junichiro stepped down in 2006," stated Dr. Jeffrey Hornung in a recent editorial for The Japan Times.

 

According to Hornung “with the recent launch of the Noda Yoshihiko cabinet, Japan has had six prime ministers in the past five years. The revolving-door of political leadership matters because it handicaps Japan's ability to handle challenges, both domestic and global. Nowhere are these challenges more apparent than in the security field.”

 

You can read Hornung's full editorial and his personal opinion on the merits of a layman as Japan's defense minister here...

 

In this issue:

Workshops & Outreach Events

Faculty Publications & Interviews

APCSSLink Blogs

Upcoming

Advanced Security Cooperation Course (ASC) Sep. 8-Oct. 12 

 

 

Transnational Security Cooperation (TSC) Course

Dec. 5-9

 

See Full Course Calendar

Visitors

Recently, APCSS was pleased to host orientation visits by a number of distinguished visitors/groups including:

 

U.S. Ambassador David Sheer (Vietnam)

 

U.S. Ambassador Peter Prahr (FSM)

 

Mr. Peter Verga, Chief of Staff for the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy

APCSSLink Blogs

The following are some of the latest blogs & stories to appear on our alumni portal --APCSSLink.org. Please note: you must have access to APCSSLink in order to view these files.

 

Climate Change and Security COI:

U.S. Navy Climate Change Roadmap 2010

U.S Quadrenniel Defense Review 2010 Climate Change & Energy Section

Map tracks Antarctica on the move  

Toward a more useful COI for climate change

 

Counterterrorism COI

CT COI Aloha from APCSS Faculty Lead -

 Combating Terrorism Fellowship Program shares the Combating Terrorism Exchange (CTX). -  

Bangladesh Assessment on Terrorism 2011  

U.S. State Department Releases “Country Reports on Terrorism 2010”   

The influence of transnational crime in the world: status and challenges of combating it.   

 

Crisis Mgmt COI:

A useful Disaster Risk Reduction on-line training and conference information site   

The 2011 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction.  -

WELCOME CCM 11-1 GRADUATES!

Human Centered Technology to Assist with Crisis Management

Asian-Pacific Nations To Pool Assets

Hurricane Irene 

Humanitarian crisis in Libya

 

Health Security COI:

Health Security Exercise  

Enhancing regional cooperation through health security  

Health Security COI discussions

About the Health Security Community of Interest (COI)

 

Maritime Security COI:

The influence of transnational crime in the world: status and challenges of combating it. 

On Symbols and Substance: Shi Lang Goes to Sea  

More New Resources, FYI  

Conversation: Naval Modernization in East Asia (and welcome APOC grads)  

8-25-11 COI EDITED.mov  

Lake Erie Sailors Remembers 9/11 at Put-in-Bay

Combat with Somalian piracy

 

Media, Conflict & Terrorism COI:

Media, Conflict and Terrorism  

 

Organization Development COI:

How to be a better global collaborator  

 

Public Affairs COI: 

Little evidence links mob violence to social media

 

Regional Security COI:

What do we expect from ASEAN and ARF ?   

 

Science & Technology COI:

Welcome to the SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY and SECURITY COI  

 

WMD & Nuclear Power COI:

Qaeda Trying to Harness Toxin for Bombs, U.S. Officials Fear  

North Korean Envoy in Washington - Poll  

Splitting the Atom and Security in Asia

IAEA Reports on Iran and North Korea 

Areva Cuts Outlook for Nuclear Plants by 30%  

 

Other blogs 

Global Drug Policy    

Major Illicit Drug Transit   

 

Previous Issues

You can find past issues of the APCSS Activities Report and the Military Construction newsletter online here.  

 

Copies are also posted on GlobalNet and APCSSLink.

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