Global Security
Global Security
Fair Observer's analysis of issues in governance, constitution, law, enforcement, and justice both nationally and internationally.
-
360° Analysis / Asian Football Development Project / Assad / IMF / Jordan / King Abdullah / Politics / Qatar / Refugees / Saudi Arabia / Soccer / Syria / UN / Water Crisis / Zatari Refugee Camp / Middle East / Global SecurityA groundswell of Syrian refugees pouring into Jordan threatens to increase social and political tension as a result of greater claims to limited resources and differing perceptions of refugees’ rights and obligations. The risk for Jordan is heightened by the fact that it could upset King Abdullah’s cautious reform policy aimed at preventing widespread discontent from morphing into a popular revolt. The unending flow of Syrian refugees into Jordan has placed acute pressure on the kingdom’s ability to cope with the crisis. It threatens to increase social and political tension as a result of increased claims to limited resources and differing perceptions of refugees’...
-
360° Analysis / America / Justin Dargin / Kim Jong Un / Nishtha Chugh / North Korea / obama / President Park / Pyongyang / Seoul / South Korea / United States / Washington / Global Security / AsiaJustin Dargin, a geopolitics expert from the University of Oxford, speaks to Fair Observer's Nishtha Chugh about the implications of North Korea’s nuclear program and why its latest test is essentially a show of strength by its young leader. Nishtha Chugh: What is your evaluation of North Korea’s nuclear program compared to other nuclear states and industry technical know-how? Where do you think it stands? Justin Dargin: North Korea is a very recent nuclear state. It has conducted three nuclear tests so far, with the latest one conducted in February this year. When it conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, which was conducted underground, it did not produce the desired...
-
360° Analysis / Kim Il-sung / Kim Jong-Un / North Korea / Nuclear / Nuclear Missile / Nuclear Program / obama / President Park / South Korea / United States / United States / War / Global Security / AsiaNorth Korea’s recent rhetoric is neither new nor surprising. While nuclear weapons in the hands of a volatile and irrational leader are cause for concern, it is unlikely that Pyongyang is on a suicide mission. The ongoing tensions between North Korea, South Korea and the United States have once again highlighted the vulnerability of the Korean Peninsula, a region often plagued by the possibility of war. The threat this time is from the untested 29-year-old Kim Jong-un, the Supreme Leader of North Korea and grandson of the country’s founder, Kim Il-sung. The supreme leader has threatened to turn Seoul, the capital of South Korea, into a “sea of fire”, with...
-
360° Analysis / Asia-Pacific / Kim Jong Un / Kim Jong-il / Michael Bassett / North Korea / obama / Pyongyang / Seoul / South Korea / United States / War / Washington / Global Security / AsiaBrinksmanship is a logical tactic deployed by North Korea when it feels backed into a corner with nothing to lose, because it has everything to gain. [View, In Pictures: A Note From North Korea (Part 2)] The annual round of brinksmanship between the US and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is seemingly more intense than in years past. This is a tactic that makes perfect sense for the DPRK, as no country has any political power over it. It is a tactic that is usually initiated by North Korea for the purpose of forcing the external world to give it concessions, and hopefully, a little respect. The DPRK wants mutual recognition and normalization of relations, and it sees...
-
Ari Katz / China / Kim Jong-il / Kim Jong-Un / North Korea / Nuclear / obama / President Park / Pyongyang / South Korea / United States / Washington D.C / 360° Context / Global Security / AsiaBy Ari KatzAs tension between North and South Korea continues, an armed conflict, however contained, can potentially wreak havoc in the Korean Peninsula and the wider East Asian region. Background North Korea has continued its policy of aggressive posturing and combative rhetoric under new leader Kim Jong-un, albeit a note shriller than that of his father, the late Kim Jong-il. Against a strained history with South Korea, the communist state is now pushing the peninsula closer to conflict through renewed rhetorical blusters in recent months. With peace in Asia at stake, South Korea, the US, and China are all pushing Pyongyang to back down in an effort to defuse tensions and avoid a shooting war....
-
360° Analysis / Beirut / Exclusive Economic Zone / Hassan Nasrallah / Hezbollah / Lebanon / March 14 Coalition / March 8 Coalition / Natural Gas / Nicholas A. Heras / Petroleum / United States / Middle East / Global Security / Environment & SustainabilityNicholas A. Heras analyzes the challenges associated with potential resource revenues for the Lebanese state. The fault lines of a potential political conflict would further entrench pre-existing divisions. [Note: This article was originally published by The Jamestown Foundation.] As the Lebanese government moves towards establishing commercial extraction of the country’s natural gas and petroleum resources in its maritime Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), questions remain over whether regional instability coupled with Lebanon’s ongoing political deadlock, sometimes deadly social conflict, and insufficient infrastructure will prevent it from benefiting from resource...
-
360° Analysis / Boston / Bruce Newsome / Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev / Jihad / Tamerlan Tsarnaev / terrorism / United States / United States / Global SecurityAlthough the total population of Muslim-American terrorists is tiny, and they kill about 5,000 times fewer Americans than other Americans killed from 9/11 to date, they are disproportionately lethal and deserve objective profiling, argues Dr. Bruce Newsome. The allegations against two brothers (Tamerlan Tsarnaev, aged 26, and Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, aged 19) for placing two bombs at the Boston Marathon on April, 15, 2013, which killed 3 people and injured more than 170, have raised concerns about the profiles of American-Muslims who would perpetrate terrorism, despite official caution about profiling the brothers. Profiles are politically sensitive because they suggest discrimination (usually...
-
361 security / China / insurgency / international security / Kuala Lumpur / malaysia / Nicholas A. Heras / Philippines / RAS / United States / Focus Article / Global Security / AsiaIncreased insurgency in Sabah would present the Filipino government with the difficult choice of participating militarily in an election year, or doing nothing and risking the ire of Malaysia. Malaysian security forces have been battling a militant Filipino organization called the “Royal Army of Sulu” (RAS) in Malaysia’s Sabah State, in the northeastern region of the Borneo island. RAS fighters, the majority of whom are ethnic Tausug from the Philippine islands of the Sulu Archipelago that border Sabah, claim fealty to the Manila-based Sultan Jamalul Kiram III. Sultan Jamalul III is one of nine competing descendants of the historical Sultanate of Sulu who claim control...
-
360° Analysis / Abdo Rabo Mansour Hadi / Al Islah / Ali Abdullah Saleh / Arab Spring / Gulf Cooperation Council / Houthi rebellion / Political Transition / Politics / Southern secession / Yemen / Middle East / Global SecurityPolicies from abroad currently ignore pre-2011 political conflicts while exacerbating the political divide emerging from the intra-regime Yemeni conflict of 2011. A myopic approach during the transition process further expands the space for militants to operate under new growing alliances. This is the final part. Read part one here. Around the country, observers see a wide gap between the media’s illusion of a military ‘transformation’ and the reality of a one-sided ‘purge’ that neither unites Yemen’s armed forces nor contributes to a safer environment. Consensus among Yemenis in the north and south is that while presidential decrees provide glimpses of...