Publications Review 20.06.2013

In this issue you will find: Business Ethics, Naval Politics in Northeast Asia, Non-Proliferation,  Pakistan's Security Dilemmas,  Modern Day Slave Trade, US-Iran Relations, Politics of Muslim Magic, New report on Soft Power in the 21st Century

In this issue we introduce a number of materials on business ethics by Malaysia-based consultant to governments and private sector Firoz Abdul Hamid.

In her column "Ethics In Business" at “Investvine” web-page she interviews Malaysian experts and global personalities on various business ethics topics.

Here you can read some of her latest materials:
- Walking the ethical track in Malaysia – a perspective
- Moving Islamic finance from conference rooms to humanity
- A take on business ethics in the US
- Medical ethics: A long debated issue

In his article at non-partisan think tank Center for International Maritime Security Pusan-based international security journalist Jeong Lee analyzes the prospects of establishing a combined fleet by South Korea, the United States, and Japan.

European Leadership Network recently published new piece by former US Defence Secretary Bill Perry, where he recounts six pivotal personal experiences that led him to devote the balance of his life and career to working for reduced nuclear dangers to humanity.

Norwegian Centre of International and Strategic Analysis (SISA) recently issued a report “Pakistan's Security Dilemmas- On Doctrines, Perceptions,and Institutional Interests“ by Manzar Zaidi, Peacebuilding and Conflict Consultant on Pakistan and former director of Pakistani National Counter Terrorism Authority.

“The  paper  is  designed  to  raise  public  awareness  on  the  perils  of  letting  terrorism  and  radicalization  grow  by  generating  realization  of  the  issues  of  radicalization,  religious  extremism,  and  terrorism,  and  the  ambiguity  with  which  they  have  been  dealt  with.  This  will  not  only  help  in  countering  radicalization  and  terrorism  by  creating  required  responses  on  ideological,  educational,  academic,  legislative  and  social  fronts,  but  may  also  make  Pakistan  security  challenges  and  its  ambiguities  clearer,  especially  for  those  in  the  West.  It  will  also  help  to  create  a  constituency  for  rationalizing  the  doctrines  for  counter‐terrorism  and  peace  among  a  cross  section  of  intelligentsia,  media,  policymakers  and  opinion  leaders”.

In his article published by Gulf Daily news (Bahrain), Jamal Kanj describes the modern practice of US and European fashion designers who outsource textile manufacturing to developing countries that lack protection for workers and where unions do not exist. J. Kanj labels this practice as “Modern day slave trade”.

In an article recently published by Other News Bob Dreyfuss from the Nation analyzes whether the US-Iran relations can be improved under newly elected Iranian president Hassan Rouhani. According to B. Dreyfuss “To take advantage of Rouhani’s victory and break the logjam over nuclear negotiations, Washington has to put on the table incentives it has thus far been unwilling to contemplate”.

In her article “The Politics of Muslim Magic”, published at Modern Diplomacy web-page, Dawn Perlmutter describes the modern witch hunt in the Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Bahrain, and shows how widespread the “magic” is in the Greater Middle East. The author also argues that one of the reasons why the US strategy to win the hearts and minds of the Muslims failed is “because Islamic religious and political leaders understand that their people primarily view the root cause of their difficulties as a spiritual problem. Instead of freedom, they foster faith. The Islamic strategy is to win souls by providing supernatural protection, via God or jinn. Hearts and minds will then follow.”

A new British Council report, ‘Influence and Attraction: Culture and the Race for Soft Power in the 21st Century’, discusses global trends in cultural relations and soft power.