Publications Review 03.04.2014. War waging, Defense cooperation, Cybersecurity and Cooperation in the Arctic

April 3, 2014

323

Type: Columns - RIAC Digest of International Publications

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Digest RIAC

Let’s distract ourselves from ongoing negotiations around Ukraine and go through political theory and war waging, future of state sovereignty and defense cooperation, digital world of cyber security and how to use the appropriate terms when speaking about cyber threats, then jumping to Russian-Western relations in the Arctic, which is an integral part of finding an efficient way to move on with the climate change talks.

This edition of our digest shall start with a thoughtful piece by Andreas Herberg-Rothe on How to win a lost war. The author brings up the phenomenon of a narrative in times of war. He gives the examples of the WWI and WWII, stating that narrative can be a very powerful societal and historical tool. From Nazi Germany to Afghanistan under the rule of Talibal, this piece may seem to dwell upon a theoretical and well-known topic but author’s angle and attitude will not leave you bored and sore-minded upon reading.

Sovereignty has grown to be a debatable issue between representatives of conservative thought and those who advocate the globalization and state borders transparency. This is no coincidence that the above featured piece on war brings us to the future of state sovereignty. How can sovereignty encourage or hinder a deeper engagement in defense cooperation? No better place to look for plausible explanations and answers than supranational Europe. Clingendael in the Netherlands provides us with a report Sovereignty and Defense cooperation.

The era of Carl von Clausewitz’ theory seems to be over and left in hardcopies on bedside tables of our grandfathers so we shall move on to the digital world of cyber security. Cyber Security Intelligence features this month a newsletter with various types of threats that poses Internet: from breaking through state firewalls to preparing for cyber war. Online espionage is also a growing threat which leaves many FBI employees with sleepless nights. Brace yourselves!

Not done yet? Another publication, this time a long one, on Critical terminology foundation 2^nd edition, which is a Russia-US bilateral policy report on cyber security, featured by EastWest Institute. This is a very useful handbook, basically a thesaurus on the vital cyber terms. A team of Russian and American experts has worked through 20 new terms and they won’t stop there. Chinese and French languages are next in line.

A word about the Arctic region, another hot piece in the mainstream discussions today. Russian-Western Relations in the Arctic: Perceptions, Policies, and Prospects is a comment by Dr. Kristian Åtland on the European Leadership network. The central stumbling rock, according to the author, is the lack of a discussion forum for the countries interested in the region. This leads to a hostile dialogue between the US and Russia when it comes to this remote, but rich part of the world.

The exploration of the Arctic is closely related to the never-ending talks about climate change. Canadian International council comments on Why We Won’t Negotiate Our Way Out Of Climate Change. The most confusing bit about the climate change are the many unknown unknowns about our future in general ( how large the population will be in the next 50-70 years, how we are going to consume energy resources, how sensible climate will be to new technologies – as you can see, there are many “hows” and the list does not end there). Learn more here.

Digest Editor: Maria Gurova.

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