Geostrategic environment (september 3, 2022)

WORLDS

Afghanistan

• September 3, 2022.  Abdulkader Sinno, East Asia Forum. When the school year began in Afghanistan in March 2022, journalists were poised to cover the return of girls to secondary education. Taliban leaders in Kabul had committed to allowing separate education for girls so long as they followed the Taliban-mandated dress code. Instead, the cameras recorded disappointed girls being sent back home. Taliban decisions reflect internal disagreement

Australia

• September 2, 2022. Hugh Piper, The Interpreter. The good functioning of liberal democracies relies on a healthy information environment. For citizens to make well-informed, free choices, public discourse must be authentic and (for the most part) based on facts. “Should democracies ever lie?” Sort of. Maybe. Not really

China

• September 2, 2022. Mercedes Page, The Interpreter. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet’s four-year term ended this week with the release at the eleventh hour of a long-delayed report assessing China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The report found that China had committed serious human rights violations in Xinjiang that may constitute crimes against humanity. A tragedy in Xinjiang, a tragedy for the UN
• September 3, 2022. Vicky Xiuzhong Xu, Daria Impiombato and Nathan Ruser, The Strategist. On 31 August, minutes before the end of her four-year term, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet released a much-anticipated report on abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwestern China. While the report was long overdue and lacked strength in certain areas, its release following a four-year investigation is a positive development celebrated by victims of Xinjiang’s human rights crisis, as well as scholars, journalists and advocates around the world who have for years sought to pour sunlight on the issue. UN Uyghur report leaves no room for denial and no excuse for inaction
• September 2, 2022. Cheng Li, Brookings. Military officers who have advanced their careers through the missile force and air force, known as PLA elites in the “cosmos club,” are remarkably well represented in the top military leadership. This trend of strong professional backgrounds among high-ranking military elites with substantial experience in aviation and aerospace will likely continue into Xi’s third term after the Party Congress this fall. The Reshuffling Report

Japan – Africa

• September 1, 2022. Rama Yade and Tyrell Junius, Atlantic Council. At a time when China, the United States, and Russia are competing in Africa in ways reminiscent of Cold War rivalries on the continent, Japan, whose eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) has just ended in Tunis, is entering the arena too. Some see Japan and other major Asian countries as potential alternatives to China for Africa to explore as partners. By launching the TICAD in 1993, Japan was the second country, after France, to set up a formal mechanism for cooperation with all of Africa. While Japan is mourning the loss of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who helped build a new Japanese legacy in Africa, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has his work cut out for him as he approaches the one-year mark. Japan’s opportunity to build a new legacy in Africa

New Zealand

• September 2, 2022. Curtis Barnes, Tom Barraclough, Allyn Robins, Lawfare. On July 25, New Zealand adopted a new industry-led mechanism designed to provide guidance for social media platforms to enhance safety and mitigate online harm: the Aotearoa New Zealand Code of Practice for Online Safety and Harms. The code’s architects have repeatedly proclaimed it to be unique, both in their public announcements and in the text itself, because of its governance framework and breadth compared to other self-regulation efforts such as Australia’s Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation and the EU’s Code of Conduct on Countering Illegal Hate Speech Online. While complaints under the code can be made only by residents of New Zealand, the code’s text clearly positions it within a broader international context.  Platforms Are Testing Self-Regulation in New Zealand. It Needs a Lot of Work

Pakistan

• September 2, 2022. Mark Nevitt, Lawfare. Science fiction author William Gibson is often credited with writing, “The future is already here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.” For Pakistan and other nations in the Global South, a climate-destabilized future is not some faraway science fiction fantasy. Climate change impacts are here, with many people already living in a modern dystopia. Consider the torrential flooding in Pakistan, where a third of the nation is underwater. The Pakistani climate minister has called it a “crisis of unimaginable proportions” and the head of the United Nations has accurately labeled the flooding a “climate catastrophe.”. Climate Justice and Loss and Damage in the Pakistan Flood Crisis

Russia – Ukraine

• September 2, 2022. Patrick Tucker, Defense One. Russia is exporting “more oil than ever” despite Western attempts to cut off one of Moscow’s economic lifelines and despite new tools and technologies that make it harder to hide energy shipments, according to analysts and observers.  Some governments, it seems, are determined to buy Russia’s oil even if they don’t support its war on Ukraine.  As Russian Oil Exports Rise, Governments and Shipping Companies Play Cat-and-Mouse
• September 2, 2022. Jacqueline Feldscher, Defense One. President Joe Biden is asking Congress to authorize an additional $13.7 billion to help Ukraine, the Office of Management and Budget announced Friday.  White House Asks Congress For $13.7B for Ukraine
• September 2, 2022. Taras Kuzio, Atlantic Council. Russia’s genocidal invasion of Ukraine was meant to extinguish Ukrainian statehood and eradicate Ukrainian identity. Instead, it is turbocharging the de-Russification of the country. In the six months since the invasion began, Ukrainian support for de-Russification has become a truly nationwide phenomenon, reaching record highs far in excess of the significantly more modest public backing for de-Communization policies following the country’s 2014 Euromaidan Revolution. This wartime trend is rapidly reversing centuries of Russification and directly undermining Vladimir Putin’s dreams of a new Russian Empire. Russia’s self-defeating invasion: Why Vladimir Putin has lost Ukraine forever

USA

• September 1, 2022. Sujai Shivakumar, Charles Wessner, CSIS. Recognizing the strategic importance of renewing U.S. innovation and manufacturing, the Biden administration in 2021 launched an initiative to foster the “reshoring” of several key industrial sectors, particularly semiconductor manufacturing. Despite the bipartisan realization that the United States is now lagging compared to other countries’ production capabilities in semiconductors both in quantity and—crucially—in quality, an agreement on related legislation was slow to materialize. Fortunately, such an agreement finally came in August 2022 in the form of a sweeping $280 billion bill that provides support for scientific research and includes an unprecedented $52 billion in federal funding to promote the expansion of chipmaking within the United States. This new strategic focus on semiconductor manufacturing represents a more comprehensive understanding of the industry’s importance beyond a secure supply of chips for defense applications. Can Semiconductor Reshoring Prime a U.S. Manufacturing Renaissance?
• September 2, 2022. Joseph Parilla and Mark Muro, Brookings. After a yearlong competition, today the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) made awards to 21 regions through its $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC).  The Build Back Better Regional Challenge marks a new era of place-based industrial strategy

USA – China

• September 2, 2022. Merics. Various crisis scenarios – above all Russia’s war in Ukraine – are reinforcing the impression that the world is moving toward a new formation of blocs. At the same time, Beijing seeks to use its growing global power and influence to shape the global order in its favor. How do countries in the Global South that cannot be so clearly classified to one bloc or the other view China’s role in the changing international power structure and US-China competition? Global views on China, with Helena Legarda and Jacob Gunter
• September 2, 2022. Heejin Lee, East Asia Forum. The US–China technology rivalry became overt when a dispute erupted over 5G and Huawei after Washington designated Huawei as an embargoed company on its ‘Entity List’ in May 2019. At the centre of the dispute are standards underpinning the fifth generation of mobile network technology. China is overtaking the United States — the traditional mastermind of international standards in information and communications technology — in setting the standards for 5G. The US–China ‘standard-off’ over technology

TOPICS

Cybersecurity

• September 2, 2022. Alessandro Mascellino, Info Security. Various law enforcement agencies in Southern California and North Carolina have deployed an obscure cellphone tracking tool dubbed ‘Fog Reveal,’ sometimes without search warrants, a new investigation by the Associated Press (AP) has revealed. US Police Deployed Obscure Smartphone Tracking Tool With No Warrants
• September 2, 2022. Alessandro Mascellino, Info Security. A vulnerability in Chromium-based browsers allows web-pages to replace the content of the system clipboard without the user’s consent or interaction. Google Chrome Vulnerability Lets Sites Quietly Overwrite Clipboard Contents
• September 2, 2022. Kevin Poireault, Info Security. Phishing has become the number one cyber issue for organizations, with 91% of cyber-attacks coming from malicious emails, according to Deloitte. As organizations embark on implementing anti-phishing campaigns, security awareness firm CybSafe recently argued that these are not always successful. Five Ways to Achieve a Successful Anti-Phishing Campaign
• September 2, 2022. Alessandro Mascellino, Info Security. A new advisory by SentinelLabs and Checkmarx has linked a threat actor called ‘JuiceLedger’ to the first known phishing campaign targeting Python Package Index (PyPI) users. JuiceLedger Hacker Linked to First Phishing Campaign Targeting PyPI Users
• September 2, 2022. Info Security. A new ransomware group operating under the name BianLian emerged in late 2021 and has become increasingly active since. New Ransomware Group BianLian Activity Exploding
• September 2, 2022. Phil Muncaster, Info Security. The US government has issued new guidance for developers designed to improve the security of the software supply chain, and in so doing make the nation’s critical infrastructure more resilient. CISA, NSA and npm Release Software Supply Chain Guidance
• September 2, 2022. Phil Muncaster, Info Security. The UK’s leading security agency has released new guidance designed to help developers and others root out and fix vulnerabilities in machine learning (ML) systems. UK Government Releases New AI Security Guidance
• September 2, 2022. Phil Muncaster, Info Security. The Chilean government has become the latest to reveal its systems were breached by ransomware actors, taking services offline. Chile and Montenegro Floored by Ransomware

Defense – Military – Security

• September 2, 2022. Agnes Helou, Breaking Defense. With the 2022 FIFA World Cup just months away, Qatar has taken delivery of its first batch of Eurofighter Typhoons, the latest major acquisition by the Gulf nation that will help beef up security for the competition. From fighter jets to counter-UAV tech, Qatar prepares World Cup security
• September 2, 2022. Jaspreet Gill, Breaking Defense. With the Pentagon’s No. 2 official calling for additional oversight on Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) efforts and other officials repeatedly expressing concerns about the lack of coordination between the military services, there is a growing sense that if JADC2 is to ever become reality, a specific point person is needed to pull everything together.  Kendall: CDAO will ‘hopefully’ be able to pull JADC2 efforts together
• September 2, 2022. Mike Yeo, Defense News. The F-35 fighter jet is making its debut at the multinational Pitch Black exercise in Australia, with U.S. Marine Corps “B” variants participating in drills there in the lead-up to the main event. F-35B jets out of Japan make debut at Australia’s Pitch Black exercise
• September 2, 2022. Ashok Sharma, AP, Defense News. India commissioned its first home-built aircraft carrier Friday as it seeks to counter regional rival China’s much larger and growing fleet, and expand its own indigenous shipbuilding capabilities. India launches new aircraft carrier as China concerns grow
• September 2, 2022. Stephen Losey, Defense News. The Air Force cleared its CV-22 Ospreys tiltrotor aircraft to resume flying, some two-and-a-half weeks after grounding them due to a clutch problem that remains unresolved. US Air Force clears Ospreys to fly amid unresolved clutch problem
• September 2, 2022. Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press, Defense News. Iran’s navy seized two American sea drones in the Red Sea before letting them go Friday after U.S. destroyers and helicopters responded, officials said. It was the second such maritime incident in less than a week involving the Navy’s new drone fleet in the Mideast. Iran briefly seizes 2 US Navy sea drones in Red Sea amid tensions
• September 2, 2022. Vivienne Machi, Defense News. The French military has qualified a new miniature unmanned aerial system dubbed Aliaca, and received three initial systems for use aboard the Navy’s patrol vessels and surveillance frigates. French Navy takes delivery of new mini-drones for reconnaissance