Today. In brief, something published on Linee Strategiche

- (Strategic Culture Foundation, Arkady Dziuba) NATO Summit: Look at Results. The NATO Wales summit is an important event for the relationship between Russia and the West. It wound up with controversial results.

 

- (AffarInternazionali, Vincenzo Camporini) Verso una Nato a due velocità. Si è consumato ancora una volta il consueto rituale del vertice Nato, con risultati che non hanno sorpreso nessuno. Le conclusioni che si leggono nel comunicato finale erano largamente prevedibili, viste anche le anticipazioni che erano state abbondantemente fatte circolare.

 

- (Aspenia online, Marta Dassù) Occidente e Russia: la sfida del realismo. Qualche volta, perfino in diplomazia, la chiarezza aiuta. E quindi conviene essere chiari sulla crisi che sta incendiando i confini orientali dell’Europa. Abbiamo una guerra che ci sembra remota alle porte di casa: la Russia la combatte in modo limitato, negando di farlo. La NATO ha offerto necessarie rassicurazioni a Polonia e Repubbliche Baltiche (il vertice di Newport si è chiuso ribadendo il valore dell’articolo 5, cardine della difesa collettiva), ma non ha alcuna intenzione di intervenire direttamente in Ucraina. E infatti lo esclude: cosa che, sanzioni o non sanzioni, favorisce sul terreno Mosca.

 

- (Aspenia online, Davide Denti) Il dilemma per Kiev: congelare un compromesso o puntare all'integrità territoriale ? Se il cessate-il-fuoco negoziato il 5 settembre reggerà – il che non è scontato, con le truppe russe a due passi dalla conquista di Mariupol dopo aver riconsolidato il controllo sull’area tra Donetsk, la costa del mar d’Azov, e la frontiera russa – l’Ucraina di Petro Poroshenko dovrà comunque porsi una serie di domande di importanza strategica per il paese.

 

- (Eurasia review, John R.Haines) The Third Chechen War? The Islamic State’s Imagined Qoqaz Caliphate And Russia’s Fractious Ciscaucasia. “And this my ancient dolorous agony, intensified by the dreadful centuries, is fastened upon my body, from which there fall, melted by the blazing sun, drops that unceasingly pour upon the rocks of Kaukasos.” — Aeschylus, Prometheus Unbound (Fragment 107)

 

- (Eurasia review - FRIDE, Sven Grimm) The China-EU Strategic Partnership On Development: Unfulfilled Potential. China’s increasing engagement in development cooperation is part of a broader international trend. The share of development cooperation provided by non-OECD countries has almost doubled from 5% in the 1990s to 10% by 2006 (Grimm/ He 2013). China’s economic rise, its increasing global financial weight and its expanding engagement in developing countries, makes it an increasingly important partner for other major actors in international development cooperation, including the European Union (EU). In this context, the EU-China strategic partnership, which was launched in 2003, should help facilitate dialogue and build trust between the two sides over the longer term.

 

- (Eurasia review, IPCS - Bhavna Singh) Religious Radicalisation In Xinjiang: Is China’s Game-plan To Blame ?. The execution of Juma Tahir, the Uighur imam of the Id Kah mosque in Kashgar, the largest in China, earlier last month has raised concerns about the nature of religious extremism in Xinjiang. It comes as no surprise since these imams are mostly handpicked by the Central Chinese authorities and are targeted repeatedly for endorsing state apparatuses. What is China’s game-plan? Will they succeed in effectively curbing the ethno-religious radicalisation in Xinjiang?

 

- (Eurasia review - IPCS, Rajeshwari Krishnamurthy) Al Qaeda In South Asia: The Terror World Championship Begin. Earlier this week, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a video message, launched an al Qaeda wing in the Indian sub-continent to “raise the flag of jihad.” What does the Al Qaeda in South Asia (AQSA) mean to South Asian security? What are the significances of this branch and the timing of its launch? How will it impact the global terrorism environment?

 

- (The Diplomat, David Suter).China Forging International Law: The SCO Experience. The rules adopted for the SCO are revealing of Beijing’s attitude towards international law in general.

 

- (The Diplomat, Kirsten Han) Malaysia’s Sedition Debate. As the government continues to wield the colonial-era legislation, opposition is mounting.

 

- (The Diplomat, Clint Richards) Pyongyang Receives Key Japan Officials Before Report Release. Sanctions and improved diplomatic ties are being highlighted as the abductee report draws near.

 

- (The Diplomat, Ankit Panda) Japan's Abe Visits Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Sri Lanka and Bangladesh with economics and security in mind.

 

- (Al Jazeera, Hamid Dabashi) Guess who's coming for Iftar? Digesting the morality of Muslims breaking their fast at the White House during Israel's bombardment of Gaza.

 

- (Al Jazeera, Marwan Bishara) On savagery and war. The Islamic State group and the wholesale violence in Iraq and Syria.

 

- (Al Jazeera, John Bell) Wrestling political phantoms to the ground. Politics should be devised to ensure basic human needs, such as dignity and legitimacy, are met in society.

 

- (Al Arabiya, ) Russia will stand its ground despite ISIS threats. There was a time when Isis was a goddess of health, marriage and love from the polytheistic pantheon of Egypt. Now the abbreviation composed of the same letters – ISIS – has become a synonym for death, violence and hatred. The disaster does not only threaten the stability of Iraq or the Middle East, but the whole international community. Much has already been said on the matter and much is going to be said as ISIS will hardly leave the top headlines of news agencies in the short-term or even in the mid-term perspective. The released ISIS video from the recently captured Taqba airbase in Syria is just another stroke on this vivid portrait.

 

- (Al Arabiya, Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor) World leaders should hang their heads in shame. Oh, what an impressive show NATO is putting on in the Welsh city of Newport! Tom Jones’ Green, Green Grass of Home is now peppered with tanks and missiles while Cardiff plays host to mighty warships. Enemies of the West must be quaking in their boots; except they’re not. They must be chuckling at the hollow rhetoric coming out of the mouths of the Leader of the Free World and his European allies, empty words delivered in the presence of representatives from four Arab countries. Are they there to write a script for one of Adel Imam’s famous humorous parodies on life; this situation is starting to look like fodder for one of this legendary Egyptian actor’s movies.

 

- (Al Arabiya, Camelia Entekhabi-Fard) Will Iran’s nuclear file soon become a distant memory ? While Iran’s nuclear negotiating team tirelessly cross continents to solve remaining issues before the interim agreement expires on November 24, the IAEA has said that Iran failed in part to answer their inquiries.