Open newsletter – April 13, 2022 a.m.

TODAY:

• AROUND THE WORLD
• PERSPECTIVES
• RUSSIA – UKRAINE (impact, reactions, consequences)
• TECH – DEFENSE – MILITARY – SECURITY – CYBER – SPACE

AROUND THE WORLD

Africa

• Five trends to expect in Africa for the rest of 2022, April 13. By Ryan Short and Aloysius Uche Ordu, Brookings. Ryan Short, a partner at Genesis Analytics, explores five trends to look for in Africa’s business world for the rest of the year 2022. He touches on achieving “net zero” in greenhouse gas emissions, ESG and impact, the EU’s green taxonomy, and more. He concludes giving some advice to African negotiators ahead of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt. (read more)

Algeria – Morocco

• Algeria says Morocco attacked truck convoys in border area, April 13. By Reuters. Algeria condemned on Tuesday what it called an attack by Morocco against a convoy of trucks in the border area between Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara, saying it will jeopardize United Nations attempts to ease regional tensions. (read more)

Australia – Solomon Islands

• Australia official in Solomon Islands amid China worries, April 13. By Al Jazeera. An Australian government minister has arrived in the Solomon Islands for talks amid concern about a proposed security agreement between the Pacific islands nation and China. Minister for International Development and the Pacific Zed Seselja landed in Honiara for two days of meetings with the support of Australia’s main opposition Labor Party. (read more)

Colombia

• Success of Colombia peace process hinges on ending violence: Mission chief, April 12. By UN News. Colombia’s dynamic peace process – which saw fresh strides with the holding of a largely peaceful parliamentary election last month – will succeed or fail based on efforts to halt the deadly violence faced by former combatants, social leaders and human rights defenders, the senior UN official in the country told the Security Council on Tuesday.  (read more)

Czech Republic

• Westinghouse expands cooperation in Czech Republic : Corporate, April 12. By World Nuclear News.  Westinghouse Electric Company has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with ten companies in the Czech Republic covering cooperation on the potential deployment of an AP1000 plant for the Dukovany unit 5 project as well as other potential AP1000 projects in Central Europe. (read more)

Cyprus

• Cyprus: Rights experts call for urgent solutions for missing persons tragedy, April 12. By UN News. A top UN-appointed human rights panel issued an appeal on Tuesday for faster progress towards finding the remains of those who disappeared during deadly violence that split the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, decades ago. (read more)

Hong Kong

• John Lee’s bid for Hong Kong leader signals Beijing’s ‘hard line’, April 13. By  Erin Hale, Al Jazeera. John Lee, who spent decades in the police before joining the political administration and was a key player in Hong Kong’s democracy crackdown, is set to be appointed the city’s top leader following a rubber-stamp election next month. Lee formally submitted his bid on Wednesday after securing enough nominations and is the only candidate in the running for chief executive, the highest-ranking local leadership position in the Chinese territory. (read more)

Iran

• Khamenei says Iran’s future should not be tied to nuclear talks with world powers, April 13. By  Parisa Hafezi, Reuters. (read more)

Lebanon

• Lebanon: Questions for Candidates About Rights, April 13. By HRW. Candidates for Lebanon’s May 15, 2022, parliamentary elections should make commitments to support key reforms that would improve the human rights situation in the country, Human Rights Watch said today in letters to major political parties and candidates citing 10 key areas for reform. All candidates are encouraged to fill out the questionnaire online about these rights issues by April 28. (read more)

Mali

• Institutions, informality, and conflict in the Sahel: The case for Mali, April 12. By Ahmadou Aly Mbaye and Nancy Benjamin, Brookings. The Sahel is a place of longstanding traditions currently coping with global networks of violent militias. Consequently, there is a surge in the value of national-level public assets, such as security and education systems, prompted by the exploitation of the lack of good governance across the Sahara desert. (read more)

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka PM offers protesters talks as opposition eyes no-confidence vote, April 13. By Uditha Jayasinghe and Devjyot Ghoshal

• Timeline of Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since independence, April 13. By Al Jazeera. Sri Lanka, which is mired in a deep political and economic crisis, has announced it is suspending payments on its $51bn foreign debt. The island nation of 22 million people is experiencing acute shortages of food, fuel and other essentials, a crisis that has inflicted widespread misery in the worst downturn since independence from the United Kingdom in 1948. T(read more)

Thailand

• Thailand: Prominent Rights Defender Harassed, April 13. By HRW. The authorities in Thailand should urgently investigate an incident intended to intimidate a prominent human rights defender, Human Rights Watch said today. (read more)

UK 

• Cerberus, Assystem to design STEP shielding : New Nuclear, April 12. By World Nuclear News. Cerberus Nuclear and Assystem have been selected to deliver the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) reactor in-board shield design as part of the STEP Engineering Framework. STEP will be the UK’s prototype fusion energy power plant. (read more)

USA

• The US should treat climate policy as economic policy, April 12. By Jonas Nahm and Johannes Urpelainen, Brookings. The United States and China jointly account for more than 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, putting these two nations at the center of efforts to address the climate crisis. Yet cooperation on climate policy between Washington and Beijing has stalled in recent years, reflecting a broader deterioration in the U.S.-China relationship. After decades of increasing dependence on imports from China, the pandemic highlighted the vulnerability of global supply chains to external shocks and strengthened calls for national self-sufficiency both in China and the United States. (read more)
• Pandemic-fueled suburban growth doesn’t mean we should abandon climate resiliency, April 12. By Joseph W. Kane, Mona Tong, and Jenny Schuetz, Brookings. People choose where to live based on a few underlying factors: proximity to where they work, preferred amenities like school quality or climate, and connections to social networks of family and friends. But the pandemic may have fundamentally changed some of these factors—loosening the need to live within daily commuting distance of workplaces and increasing preference for larger homes to accommodate telework. According to prevailing media narratives, the pandemic has “supercharged” suburbanization rates and even hastened the death of U.S. cities.  (read more)
• BWXT provides update on microreactor progress : New Nuclear, April 12. By World Nuclear News. BWXT subsidiary BWXT Advanced Technologies (BWXT AT) has finalised its formal cost-sharing contracting with the US Department of Energy (DOE) for its BANR (BWXT Advanced Nuclear Reactor) transportable microreactor and is on track to deliver the first round of the reactor’s TRISO fuel for testing at Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL) Advanced Test Reactor in 2024 as scheduled. (read more)
• US nuclear generation down but share remains the same : Energy & Environment, April 12. By World Nuclear News.  Total US nuclear electricity generation declined slightly for the second consecutive year in 2021, although nuclear’s share of electricity generation has remained similar to its average share over the previous decade, according to figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). (read more)

USA – Taiwan

• Ensuring a stronger US-Taiwan tech supply chain partnership, April 13. By Jason Hsu, Brookings. In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the world has become even more ideologically polarized. As the war and Russian atrocities continue, the United States and its allies are targeting Moscow by imposing a series of sanctions on finance, technology, and trade. While there are concerns that such sanctions could strain global supply chains, it is imperative that actions be taken to uphold democracy and the international rules-based order. (read more)

Zambia

• Addressing youth unemployment through industries without smokestacks: A Zambia case study, April 12. By Anand Rajaram, Dennis Chiwele, and Mwanda Phiri. With a cyclical and capital-intensive copper industry, landlocked Zambia faces a number of hurdles to economic diversification and job creation even as the labor force has grown rapidly. (read more)

RUSSIA – UKRAINE (impact, reaction, consequences)

• Hundreds of Ukraine marines surrender in key port of Mariupol, says Russia, April 13. By leksandr Kozhukhar, Reuters. More than a thousand Ukrainian marines have surrendered in the besieged Ukrainian port of Mariupol, Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday of Moscow’s main target in the eastern Donbas region which it has yet to bring under its control. (read more)
• Bulgaria: Free Online Textbooks for Ukrainian Refugees, April 13. By HRW.  A Bulgarian firm has begun providing free access to online learning materials and textbooks for children who have fled Ukraine, Human Rights Watch said today. (read more)
• Russia’s Sandworm APT targets energy facilities in Ukraine with wipers, April 12. By Pierluigi Paganini, Security Affairs. Russia-linked Sandworm threat actors targeted energy facilities in Ukraine with a new strain of the Industroyer ICS malware (INDUSTROYER2) and a new version of the CaddyWiper wiper. (read more)
• Analysis: Looming battle in Donbas to shape course of Russia’s war in Ukraine, April 13. By Reuters. (read more)
• Biden says Russia committing genocide in Ukraine, April 13. By Oleksandr Kozhukhar, Reuters. (read more)
• Senate Republicans Urge Biden Administration to Share More Intel with Ukraine, April 12. By Brandi Vincent, Nextgov. Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee collectively pressed for the Intelligence Community to exchange more information and data with Ukraine to support its military operations amid Russia’s violent invasion of that smaller, neighboring nation.  (read more)
• US Looking at New Weapons to Help Ukraine Expand Distance and Range, April 12. By Patrick Tucker, Defense One. The Pentagon is considering Ukraine’s requests for more advanced weapons to “give them a little more range and distance,” Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks told reporters Tuesday.  (read more)
• Russian Scientists Say They Have A New System to Monitor Attacks on the Russian Internet, April 12. By Patrick Tucker, Defense One. As Russia rains artillery fire down on Ukrainian cities, cyber attackers from around the world have been targeting Russian media, cryptocurrency services, and retail brands with denial of service attacks. A group of Russian scientists say that they’ve developed a new tool to block such attacks—but even that is an indication that severe economic sanctions are changing life in Russia.  (read more)
• Pentagon leaders to meet Wednesday with top defense contractors about Ukraine, April 13. By Joe Gould, Defense News. Top U.S. defense officials will meet with the chief executives of the eight largest U.S. defense contractors to discuss industry’s capacity to meet Ukraine’s weapons needs if the war with Russia continues for years. Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks told reporters Tuesday she plans to participate in a classified roundtable with defense CEOs on Wednesday to discuss “what can we do to help them, what do they need to generate supply.”. (read more)
• Pentagon working with Congress on additional Ukraine funding, April 12. By Bryant Harris and Joe Gould, Defense News. The Defense Department’s No. 2 civilian official said Tuesday the Biden administration plans to ask Congress for money to pay for U.S. troop deployments in Eastern Europe — on the same day Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., floated the possibility of additional Ukraine funding. Asked about the potential for additional funding to respond to the crisis, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said the Pentagon is working with Congress to backfill the cost of U.S. forces surged to Eastern Europe. Those forces were not included in the FY23 budget request, she said. (read more)
• Update 50 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine, April 12. By IAEA. Ukraine informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today that there had been no significant new developments related to nuclear safety and security over the past 24 hours, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said. (read more)
• Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 12. By Frederick W. Kagan, Kateryna Stepanenko, Karolina Hird, and George Barros, ISW. Russia continued offensive operations in eastern Ukraine on a limited basis as it worked to reconstitute forces withdrawn from the Battle of Kyiv and to establish necessary logistical bases for increased offensive operations in the Donbas area. Russian forces withdrawn from the Kyiv region have not yet been reintroduced into Ukraine to fight. The Russian military has continued to conduct small-scale limited offensive operations on the Izyum and Severodonetsk axes and has not yet gone over to a better-resourced or broader offensive campaign. The Battle of Mariupol continues even as Ukrainian officials accuse Russia of using chemical weapons on Mariupol’s defenders. (read more)
• ‘Accomplice’ No More? How the War in Ukraine Stokes Anxieties in Belarus, April 12. By Grigory Ioffe, The Jamestown Foundation. Both directly and indirectly, Russia’s ongoing “special military operation” in Ukraine (launched by the Kremlin on February 24) triggers anxieties across the border in Belarus. (read more)
• Russia Involving Transnistria in Ukrainian War, Raising Stakes for All Parties, April 12. By Paul Globe, The Jamestown Foundation. Transnistria, the breakaway Slavic-majority region in Moldova, usually attracts attention only when Moscow seeks to use to limit Moldovan moves toward unification with Romania or membership in European institutions.  (read more)
• In Southern Ukraine, Russian Occupation Policy Takes Shape (Part Two), April 12. By Vladimir Socor, The Jamestown Foundation. Russia’s 2022 re-invasion of Ukraine resulted, by mid-March, in the capture of Ukraine’s entire Kherson province, a considerable part of the Zaporyzhzhia province, and the littoral portion of the Donetsk province. Russia has decided to separate this latter portion from Ukraine and attach it to the pseudo-independent “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DPR); but it has not yet decided what to do with the newly occupied territories in Ukraine’s Kherson and Zaporyzhzhia provinces (see Part One in EDM, April 7). (read more)
• Will the United States Run Out of Javelins Before Russia Runs Out of Tanks?, April 12. By Mark F. Cancian, CSIS. The United States has supplied Ukraine with thousands of Javelins, the anti-tank missiles that have become the iconic weapon of the war, but the U.S. inventory is dwindling. The United States has probably given about one-third of its stock to Ukraine. Thus, the United States is approaching the point where it must reduce transfers to maintain sufficient stockpiles for its own war plans. Production of new missiles is slow, and it will take years to replenish stocks. (read more)
• Ukraine war could increase shocks for developing countries, UN warns, April 12. By UN News. The fallout from the war in Ukraine could dramatically worsen the economic outlook for developing countries already grappling with debt financing related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN said in a report published on Tuesday.  (read more)
• Ukraine conflict putting global trade recovery at risk: WTO, April 12. By UN News. The war in Ukraine has created immense human suffering but it is also putting the fragile recovery of global trade at risk, and the impact will be felt across the planet, the World Trade Organization (WTO) said on Tuesday. (read more)

TECH – DEFENSE – MILITARY – SECURITY – CYBER – SPACE

• Authorities shut down dark web marketplace RaidForums, April 12. By Pierluigi Paganini, Security Affairs. The illegal dark web marketplace RaidForums has been shut down and its infrastructure seized as a result of the international law enforcement Operation TOURNIQUET coordinated by Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre. (read more)
• IARPA previews busy research season, April 12. By Lauren C. Williams, Nextgov. The intelligence community is preparing for a busy research year with up to a dozen new projects, many of which lean on artificial intelligence and a special tailor-made quantum offering for the National Security Agency.  Catherine Marsh, the director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, previewed a range of the agency’s research offerings that are expected to take shape this year during a keynote address at the Intelligence National Security Alliance’s Spring Symposium April 11.  (read more)
• How Moves to Weaken Standard-Essential Patents (SEPs) Threaten U.S. National Security, April 12. By Alexander Kersten, CSIS. On December 6, 2021, the Department of Justice (DOJ), United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) launched a draft policy statement that sought to revise an earlier 2019 statement by those same agencies. This statement, titled Draft Policy Statement on Licensing Negotiations and Remedies for Standards-Essential Patents Subject to F/RAND Commitments, is justified as an effort to encourage good-faith licensing negotiations and to address the scope of remedies available to patent owners that have agreed to license their essential technologies on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (F/RAND) terms. (read more)

• Joint Statement of the United States of America and Sweden on Cooperation in Quantum Information Science and Technology, April 12. By US Department of State. (read more)

• DIA Warns China’s Space Tech Seeks to Block U.S. Radars, Jam Munitions, April 12. By Tara Copp, Defense One. China has become increasingly reliant on space to prevail in a major conflict with the United States and is aggressively launching, acquiring, and obtaining through espionage the counter-space capabilities necessary to do so, according to a new Defense Intelligence Agency space security report released Tuesday. (read more)
• ‘Lightning Carrier’ Concept Shows How Navy, Marine Corps Can Fly More F-35Bs from Amphibs, April 12. By Caitilin M. Kenney, Defense One. The Navy and Marine Corps recently proved they can operate an amphibious assault carrier as if it were a fixed-wing aircraft carrier, which officials said will give them more options for how to use these ships in the future.  (read more)
• The Navy’s shipbuilder oversight offices are underutilized, watchdog agency reports, April 13. By  Geoff Ziezulewicz, Defense News. The Navy has in recent years been plagued by a series of high-profile shipbuilding problems that have delayed construction, sent costs skyrocketing and impacted quality and performance across platforms. Although the sea service has an oversight tool within major private shipbuilding yards that could help improve things, it remains hindered, according to a Government Accountability Office report released this week. (read more)
• Space companies investing in small satellite production capacity as customers shift to hybrid architectures, April 12. By  Courtney Albon, Defense News. “Elastic” is the word Boeing’s President of Commercial Satellites Ryan Reid uses to describe the relationship between the company’s commercial, government and small satellite divisions. Here’s what he means by that. When his team used digital technologies to significantly shrink the size of its traditional satellite communications payload, they no longer needed as much room to build it. So, they shifted to a smaller space. That made room for Millennium Space Systems, a Boeing-owned small-satellite company that is expanding its manufacturing capacity, to move in. (read more)