Oceania
Oceania
Fair Observer provides insightful and informed analysis of the important issues, events and trends in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific nations.
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360° Analysis / Ari Katz / Counter-Piracy measures / Global Piracy / Maritime Technology / Naval Collaborative Approach / United States / Europe / Africa / Global Security / Asia / Science & Technology / OceaniaBy Ari KatzSynergizing resources and technology from private and public stakeholders, can produce more effective and cost efficient counter-maritime piracy measures. With both sequestration and tensions ramping up in Asia, experts project that countering maritime piracy will take a back seat to the Asia rebalancing and other more existential US foreign policy issues. Unfortunately, this rationing of focus has the potential to undermine and reverse a recent downward trend in maritime piracy incidents, particularly along the Somali coast. However, with piracy still costing the world economy $7 to $12 billion a year, fiscal challenges should ideally spur innovative efficiency, rather than obstructive...
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Economics / Global Piracy / Gulf of Aden / Gulf of Guinea / Horn of Africa / Piracy / Pirates / Politics / Somalia / United States / Europe / Finance & Economics / 360° Context / Middle East / Africa / Global Security / OceaniaMaritime Piracy is bleeding the global economy and fostering political instability on the eastern and western shores of Africa more gravely than we realise. Re-emergence of maritime piracy, one of the world’s oldest crimes, in the past decade has grown into a serious global security concern alongside terrorism and religious extremism. Rising number of attacks in recent years on merchant vessels to seize goods and hostages in exchange for ransoms running in millions of dollars has prompted an urgent concerted international naval campaign to protect arterial sea routes and shipping lanes. Earlier maritime robbery was mostly confined to hotspots around Malacca Strait, South China Sea,...
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Politics / United States / Europe / Focus Article / BRIC / Middle East / Americas / Africa / Asia / OceaniaFair Observer's five best articles of March. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. Perhaps that is why China is moderating its approach to the disputed Diaoyu or Senkaku Islands. Pakistan has just seen an elected government complete its first full term, marking a victory for democracy. Now it will have to confront the more intractable issue of poor governance that its democratic neighbor India is still struggling with. Another woman was tragically gang raped in India; this time a married Swiss tourist who was on a camping trip with her husband. President Obama visited Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. He gave a great speech...
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360° Analysis / Ben Zygier / Haaretz / Israel / Mossad / Politics / Arts & Culture / Middle East / OceaniaBy Noam SheizafThe mysterious death of an alleged Mossad agent in an Israeli jail exposes the country’s impressive censorship apparatus and its limitations in the era of new media. The affair known as the death of “Prisoner X” is becoming an interesting test case for the effect of new media on state secrets and the relations between journalists and the security establishment. A short summary: the events themselves took place in 2010. According to the investigative piece by Australian network ABC, a Melbourne-born Jew named Ben Zygier, who immigrated to Israel in 2000, was locked in the most guarded prison cell in Israel – the one built to hold Yigal Amir, Prime Minister Rabin...
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China / Chomsky / Freud / Japan / Laos / North Korea / Politics / United States / Europe / Focus Article / BRIC / Arts & Culture / Middle East / Americas / Africa / Asia / OceaniaFair Observer's five best articles of February. By February, the new year loses its newness and 2013 is no exception. While all of us have settled into 2013, the world continues to be as eventful as ever. Italy has had yet another election. Kerry is off on his first foreign trip as Secretary of State. Karzai is asking the US to curtail its role, and the conflict in Syria shows no signs of resolution. The world economy is wobbly with the Eurozone in deepest distress. At Fair Observer, we try our best to make sense of the world and please find our best articles for February below. As always, we want to know what you think and please email us at info@fairobserver.com to tell us how we can...
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Best of the Month / Britain / Israel / Jordan / Mali / obama / Politics / United States / Europe / Focus Article / BRIC / Middle East / Americas / Africa / Asia / OceaniaFair Observer's five best articles for January. Apparently the world didn't come to an end. On the contrary, the new year is in full-swing. Barack Obama has been inaugurated for his second term in office, Israel and Jordan have held their parliamentary elections, David Cameron has spoken of a referendum over Britain's EU membership, and Mali has seen a French military intervention. As political unrest in the Arab world enters its third year, January has seen excerpts from our first book, The Arab Uprisings: An Introduction. To celebrate the end of the month, we share with you a selection of our best articles, and invite you to tell us what you think. From all of us at Fair...
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United States / Europe / Focus Article / BRIC / Middle East / Americas / Africa / Asia / Oceania / Environment & SustainabilityIn the past few years, the political map of Antarctica, a region rich in mineral-fuel resources, has changed immensely. How can the ongoing geopolitical polarization in this region have unfavourable global effects in the long run? Even after 50 years of peaceful multilateral research initiatives, various nations would still like to seize Antarctica. Although annexation of the continent is now difficult, ongoing geopolitics might disable the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) after it expires in 2048, or even before that date. If Antarctica is seized, either by force or deception, this can lead to a global conflict. The ATS refers to extensive multilateral accords which came into force in 1961....
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australia / carbon market / carbon trading / energy policy / Japan / United States / Europe / Finance & Economics / Focus Article / Oceania / Environment & SustainabilityGlobal carbon trading could potentially be the most effective economic tool to regulate industrial Co2 emissions in the fight against climate change. As concern about global climate change and carbon emissions mitigation is becoming ever more important, governments and corporations across the world have introduced innovative strategies to reduce steadily rising carbon emissions. Some of these strategies such as carbon taxes, energy efficiency strategies, command and control policies and market-based pollution trading mechanisms have been around for some time. However, they were previously used for other pollution control purposes, besides that of carbon emissions mitigation, with varying...
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Politics / United States / Europe / Finance & Economics / 360° Context / BRIC / Global Change / Arts & Culture / Middle East / Americas / Business & Entrepreneurship / Africa / Global Security / Asia / Science & Technology / Health / Oceania / Environment & SustainabilityFair Observer's Top 15 articles of 2012. Click here to view the "Fair Observer: The Year in Pictures" photo feature. As we wind down the old year and ring in the new, it is time for some reflections. Like any year, 2012 was packed with events, some of which will go down as historic while others will fade away with time. For Fair Observer, it is a time to thank everyone in our team, our contributors and our readers for taking us another step forward. The past year has confirmed that our community is our greatest source of strength. For years, the world has assumed that rigorous analysis of global issues is possible only if there is a huge...
