DOCSLIB.ORG

GLOBAL INSIGHT Institute for Global Dialogue a Focus on Current Issues Issue 84 / September 2008

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
GLOBAL INSIGHT Institute for Global Dialogue a Focus on Current Issues Issue 84 / September 2008 GLOBAL INSIGHT INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL DIALOGUE a focus on current issues Issue 84 / September 2008 ‘Geopolitical Tsunami’: The Georgia-Russia conflict and the changing balance of forces in the Caucasus Francis Ikome and Lesley Masters Dr Francis Ikome directs HE CAUCASUS HAS been witness to something of a ‘geopolitical tsunami’ over the the IGD’s Multilateral Tcourse of August 2008. Georgia’s attempt to pacify its irredentist region of South Ossetia Analysis programme; and Abkhazia saw a rather muscular reaction from Moscow and blustering rhetoric from the Dr Lesley Masters is a West, particularly America. This has revived the not-too glorious memories of the East-West researcher for the Cold War confrontation that dominated and defined international politics for the greater same programme. part of forty years following the end of the Second World War. Concerns are that these events could herald a new Cold War with the potential to further complicate inter-state relations in an era of perverse unconventional warfare (terrorism). While neither Moscow, Washington, nor Brussels appears to be prepared for a new Cold War, the manner in which they have con- ducted themselves since the events in Georgia suggests elements that could produce a new type of Cold War, even if only by accident. Beyond the risk of a new Cold War and of more immediate consequence, however, are the implications of the fall-out of the conflict over Georgia on the geopolitical balance of forces in the Caucasus and the broader international system. The Georgian conflict provided Moscow with a long-awaited opportunity to vent its frustration against the West for what it perceives as multifaceted provocations and betrayals since the end of the Cold War. The swiftness and near mathematical precision of the Russian deployment following Georgia’s infiltration of South Ossetia seem to suggest that Moscow had been preparing for this moment. On the other hand, America and its western allies’ response point to the fact that even with clear signs of Russia’s growing economic and political influence, they continued to take it for granted. They were, therefore, taken by surprise by Moscow’s firm response towards Georgia and subse- quent refusal to budge over the recognition of the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Against this background, this policy brief seeks to examine the dynamics of the conflict Global Insight aims to and its implications on the geopolitical balance of forces in the Caucasus and the broader provide members of the international system. It begins by examining Moscow’s relationship with the West after the policy community with end of the Cold War, focusing on what Russia perceives as provocations and betrayals by concise but trenchant the West; it then proceeds to examine the window of opportunity presented to Moscow by analyses of topical issues. Georgia’s infiltration of Southern Ossetia. This is followed by an analysis of the geostrategic Comments and suggestions fallout of the conflict. It concludes by discussing some implications of the conflict for the are invited. broader international system, on the basis of which it also makes some recommendations. Global Insight 84.indd 1 9/30/08 10:19:53 AM Global Insight no 84 Figure 1: The South Caucasus Region plans to place parts of the US missile defense shield virtually at Moscow’s doorstep in Poland and the Czech Republic, and the recognition of Kosovo as an independent state despite Russian protests. The expansion of NATO and the independence of Kosovo In 1949 the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was established as a collective security arrangement, underwrit- ten by America, and crafted to shield Western Europe from USSR aggression during the Cold War. Following the demise Source: BBC News. of the USSR and the end of the Cold War, expectations were that NATO would be disbanded, particularly as the Russian Federation was seen as a partner of the West. Despite ques- Moscow and the West Post-Cold War relations: tions concerning the identity and purpose of the organisation, a mixture of provocation and betrayal NATO continues to re-interpret its position internationally, assuming the mandate of a global peacekeeper and enforcer Ever since the demise of the former USSR and the end of the which clearly encroaches on the domain of the United Cold War, Russia ceased to be recognized as a great power, Nations. Moscow had been particularly wary of NATO’s new let alone a super-power. Washington, in particular, has only role in a post-Cold War era. These concerns were, however, been prepared to engage Moscow as a junior partner, as a allayed by the West’s promises that NATO would not threaten country that embraces Western values of market democracy Russia’s national interests in any way. In the post-Cold War and that will ungrudgingly accept America’s unilateral leader- spirit of understanding between Moscow and Washington, ship of the global system.1 Despite inclusion into the G8 and both President George W. Bush and Bill Clinton personally the creation of a NATO-Russia Council, there has been little assured the Kremlin that NATO would not encroach into what enthusiasm from the West in drawing Russia into the main Moscow identifies as its sphere of influence. fold. For example Moscow is not part of the G7 of Finance Contrary to these promises, NATO has continued to Ministers, which plays a key role in the multilateral financial expand eastwards towards Russia’s doorstep, in what Moscow institutions and the wider global economy.2 Indeed, from the perceives as both a betrayal and provocation. This has seen outset, Washington has done everything to blunt any Russian the incorporation of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, attempt to revive its former position as a superpower that Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and could pose a challenge to America’s global hegemony.3 As Slovenia into the security organization.6 It is noteworthy that such, America and its European allies have tended to conduct in terms of Russia’s foreign policy, the ‘near-abroad’ or the themselves in a manner that seemed to suggest that Russia Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), is a priority area simply did not exist, or that if it existed, it no longer mattered within which Moscow feels that it reserves the right to pro- and therefore, had no interests that needed to be protected in tect its interests (security, economic, and social).7 Critically, the international system. This attitude fed perceptions within Moscow wants to insure itself against military intimidation, Russian foreign policy circles that the West deliberately sought hence its deep displeasure with the eastward expansion of to marginalize the country and exploit its weakness.4 Acting NATO and its hostility to US plans to build missile defenses from the basis of this perception, Russia’s Foreign Minister in Eastern Europe.8 This sensitivity towards perceived west- Sergie Lavrov, cautioned that ‘[i]nteraction with Russia is pos- ern hostility was bolstered by the involvement of the US and sible only on the basis of full equality, respect for the security Europe in re-building the armaments and military capabilities interests of each other, and mutual benefit.’5 Nevertheless, the of new NATO members, including Georgia, which according West has continued to take actions that in the ‘hey days’ of to the Russian Foreign Ministry, is ‘an overt invitation to new the Cold War would have qualified as unacceptable provo- reckless ventures.’9 For Georgia’s former Communist leader, cation. This has included the eastward expansion of NATO, Eduard Shevardnadze, ‘the West’s erection of radars in Czech 2 Global Insight 84.indd 2 9/30/08 10:19:53 AM The Georgia-Russia conflict Republic and planned missiles shields in Poland is a betrayal de Hoop Scheffer, has continued to promote the idea of of the consensus (friendship) between the West and the East Georgia’s future membership of the organization. At the same that facilitated the end of the Cold War. If the West is still time, the US proceeded to block an emergency NATO-Russia friends with Russia, then it really does not need these defense Council meeting on the conflict in South Ossetia. Russia’s per- systems.’10 manent representative to the Organization was particularly The former states of the Soviet Union are increasingly disgruntled when it emerged that the Georgian ambassador alarmed by the re-emergence of a politically, economically had been given the opportunity to address NATO while ‘they and militarily powerful Russia. According to Ivanenko they weren’t ready to meet with their Russian partner, to hear the ‘see a newly confident Russia as a historical threat to be con- questions I have for our American colleagues about their tained at the expense of their own prosperity.’11 Russia’s efforts share of the responsibility for the preparation of the blood- to project its growing power, particularly through the leverage bath in South Ossetia. This is unacceptable’.17 bestowed by its abundant oil and gas resources, have not Russia’s growing resentment towards the West, following endeared it to its immediate neighbours. If anything, it has NATO’s eastward encroachment, was compounded by the ‘stoked anxiety and driven these countries to seek alliances decision to recognize Kosovo’s independence. In February and take other steps to protect themselves from Russian 2008, Kosovo declared its independence against the wishes pressure.’12 The pro-West independent states seem to believe of both Serbia and Russia. Indeed, Putin warned that ‘to sup- that security against possible Russian aggression is attainable port the unilateral independence of Kosovo is wrong both through their membership of NATO.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Regime Change Consensus: Iraq in American Politics, 1990-2003
    THE REGIME CHANGE CONSENSUS: IRAQ IN AMERICAN POLITICS, 1990-2003 Joseph Stieb A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History in the College of Arts and Sciences. Chapel Hill 2019 Approved by: Wayne Lee Michael Morgan Benjamin Waterhouse Daniel Bolger Hal Brands ©2019 Joseph David Stieb ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Joseph David Stieb: The Regime Change Consensus: Iraq in American Politics, 1990-2003 (Under the direction of Wayne Lee) This study examines the containment policy that the United States and its allies imposed on Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War and argues for a new understanding of why the United States invaded Iraq in 2003. At the core of this story is a political puzzle: Why did a largely successful policy that mostly stripped Iraq of its unconventional weapons lose support in American politics to the point that the policy itself became less effective? I argue that, within intellectual and policymaking circles, a claim steadily emerged that the only solution to the Iraqi threat was regime change and democratization. While this “regime change consensus” was not part of the original containment policy, a cohort of intellectuals and policymakers assembled political support for the idea that Saddam’s personality and the totalitarian nature of the Baathist regime made Iraq uniquely immune to “management” strategies like containment. The entrenchment of this consensus before 9/11 helps explain why so many politicians, policymakers, and intellectuals rejected containment after 9/11 and embraced regime change and invasion.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction
    NOTES Introduction 1. Robert Kagan to George Packer. Cited in Packer’s The Assassin’s Gate: America In Iraq (Faber and Faber, London, 2006): 38. 2. Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke, America Alone: The Neoconservatives and the Global Order (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004): 9. 3. Critiques of the war on terror and its origins include Gary Dorrien, Imperial Designs: Neoconservatism and the New Pax Americana (Routledge, New York and London, 2004); Francis Fukuyama, After the Neocons: America At the Crossroads (Profile Books, London, 2006); Ira Chernus, Monsters to Destroy: The Neoconservative War on Terror and Sin (Paradigm Publishers, Boulder, CO and London, 2006); and Jacob Heilbrunn, They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons (Doubleday, New York, 2008). 4. A report of the PNAC, Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century, September 2000: 76. URL: http:// www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf (15 January 2009). 5. On the first generation on Cold War neoconservatives, which has been covered far more extensively than the second, see Gary Dorrien, The Neoconservative Mind: Politics, Culture and the War of Ideology (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1993); Peter Steinfels, The Neoconservatives: The Men Who Are Changing America’s Politics (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1979); Murray Friedman, The Neoconservative Revolution: Jewish Intellectuals and the Shaping of Public Policy (Cambridge University Press, New York, 2005); Murray Friedman ed. Commentary in American Life (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 2005); Mark Gerson, The Neoconservative Vision: From the Cold War to the Culture Wars (Madison Books, Lanham MD; New York; Oxford, 1997); and Maria Ryan, “Neoconservative Intellectuals and the Limitations of Governing: The Reagan Administration and the Demise of the Cold War,” Comparative American Studies, Vol.
    [Show full text]
  • WSI China Security Vol.4 No.1 Winter 2008
    30 Contents More Carrot Than Stick: Beijing’s Emerging Taiwan Policy 3 Chong-Pin Lin Peace Agreement: The Long Road Ahead 30 Huang Jiashu Wild Card: A Democratic Taiwan 42 Ted Galen Carpenter Peace or War: Taiwan at a Critical Juncture 61 Peng Guangqian Ensnared by Beijing: 70 Washington Succumbs to the PRC’s Diplomacy of Panic Alan Wachman Whither Taiwan-China Relations? 94 Arthur S. Ding Time for “New” Thinking on Taiwan 113 Wang Jianwei Change: Mainland’s Taiwan Policy 130 Chu Shulong & Guo Yuli How China “Wins” a Space War 137 Brian Weeden Projects of the World Security Institute China Program In addition to China Security, the World Security Institute China Program, in partnership with Chen Shi China Research Group, has a variety of on-going projects in our Beijing and Washington offices. The World Security Institute is a non-profit organization committed to independent research and journalism on global affairs. All of our projects attempt to increase the understanding of China in the United States and internationally and to deepen an international dialogue. hina-U.S. Dialogue on Space – is dedicated to strengthening security in space by fostering dialogue between Cthe two potential economic, political and military competitors in outer space. We enhance transparency and discussion on space between the two countries by educating the public and policymakers on each other's space programs and long-term policies. www.wsichina.org/space/ orning China news digest - is a twice-weekly news Mdigest that combines the most important and up-to-date, domestic Chinese news via email. The project aims to improve the understanding of China amongst international policy practitioners and the public by increasing the accessibility of Chinese news.
    [Show full text]
  • Terrorism. International
    INTERNATIONAL LAW AND THE ‘WAR ON TERRORISM’: POST 9/11 RESPONSES BY THE UNITED STATES AND ASIA PACIFIC COUNTRIES 43 International Law and the ‘War on Terrorism’: Post 9/11 Responses by the United States and Asia Pacific Countries Stephen P Marks* Introduction Terrorism is not a new challenge to international order,1 although the influence of the United States has resulted in significant rethinking of the international law and politics of terrorism since the attacks on the US of 11 September 2001, which has had ramifications in all regions, including the Asia Pacific. An unresolved issue of international law is whether and to what extent those attacks have justified the claim that there is a ‘new paradigm’ in international law. The following pages will examine responses to terrorism under the traditional paradigm with particular reference to the Asia Pacific region, and under the so-called new paradigm proposed by the government of the United States in the context of its ‘war on terrorism.’ I. The International Law and Politics of Responses to Terrorism under the Traditional Paradigm Under international law, the phenomenon of terrorism has been defined in various treaties; the rules governing the use of force have been applied to regimes and * François-Xavier Bagnoud Professor of Health and Human Rights, Harvard University, and Visiting Professor, City University of Hong Kong. This article is based on a lecture given on 9 March 2006 at City University of Hong Kong in the Eminent Speakers Lecture Series. The research assistance of Mr Ronald Yu for the section on the Asia Pacific region is gratefully acknowledged.
    [Show full text]
  • Received by NSD/FARA Registration Unit 12/21/2011 12:08:07 PM U.S
    Received by NSD/FARA Registration Unit 12/21/2011 12:08:07 PM OMB NO. 1124-0002; Expires February 28, 2014 u.s. Department of Justice Supplemental Statement Washington, DC 20530 Pursuant to the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended For Six Month Period Ending Nov 2011 (Insert date) I-REGISTRANT 1. (a) Name of Registrant (b) Registration No. Orion Strategies LLC 5437 (c) Business Address(es) of Registrant 918 Pennsylvania Ave SE Washington DC 20003 2. Has there been a change in the information previously furnished in connection with the following? (a) If an individual: (1) Residence address(es) Yes • No • (2) Citizenship Yes • No D (3) Occupation Yes • No D (b) If an organization: (1) Name Yes D No 0 (2) Ownership or control Yes • No H (3) Branch offices Yes • No 0 (c) Explain fully all changes, if any, indicated in Items (a) and (b) above. IF THE REGISTRANT IS AN INDIVIDUAL, OMIT RESPONSE TO ITEMS 3, 4, AND 5(a). 3. If you have previously filed Exhibit C1, state whether any changes therein have occurred during this 6 month reporting period. Yes • No D If yes, have you filed an amendment to the Exhibit C? Yes • No • If no, please attach the required amendment. 1 The Exhibit C, for which no printed form is provided, consists of a true copy of the charter, articles of incorporation, association, and by laws of a registrant that is an organization. (A waiver of the requirement to file an Exhibit C may be obtained for good cause upon written application to the Assistant Attorney General, National Security Division, U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • John Mccain: a Third Term for the Bush Agenda
    The McCain U Syllabus Table of Contents Introduction • MEMO: John McCain: A Third Term for the Bush Agenda Chapter 1: Economy • The Winning Argument: John McCain’s Economic Policies • REPORT: McCain Adopts ‘Entire’ Norquist Agenda, Will Double The Bush Tax Cuts • What You Need To Know About McCain’s Economic Plan • McCain Would Give America’s 200 Largest Corporations $45 Billion In Tax Breaks • McCain’s Budget Would Create Largest Deficit In 25 Years, Largest Debt Since WWII • Earmark Accounting Leaves Two Thirds Of McCain Tax Proposal Unfunded • Sen. McCain's HOME Plan: Late to the Party with a Flawed Plan • John and Cindy McCain would reap $373,429 if McCain’s tax proposal were enacted • Income Disparity And Wealth Consolidation Show Eerie Resemblances To 1928 • Ex-Reagan Official: McCain Claim On Corporate Expensing Is ‘So Intellectually Dishonest It’s Outrageous’ • Douglas Holtz-Eakin Vs. Douglas Holtz-Eakin On Corporate Expensing • The McCain Deficit: Douglas Holtz-Eakin Continues To Debate With Himself Chapter 2: Health care • The Winning Argument: John McCain’s Health Care Proposals • Elizabeth Edwards: Why Are People Like Me Left Out Of Your Health Care Proposal, Sen. McCain? • Elizabeth Edwards On The Inequitable Individual Market • What You Need To Know About McCain’s Health Care Plan • REPORT: McCain Plan Doles Out $2 Billion In Tax Cuts For The Biggest Health Insurers • John McCain’s Health Care Plan Means High Paperwork Costs • McCain’s Cost-Containment Plan: Reduce Access to Health Insurance • McCain’s Health Care Death
    [Show full text]
  • Georgia Postbellum
    THE RUSSIA POrtFOLIO Georgia Postbellum Lincoln A. Mitchell ast summer’s war in Georgia brought Re-examining our relations with both Russia into sharp focus several key components and Georgia in light of Europe will be a compli- L of U.S. foreign policy in the post-Cold cated undertaking, not least because of the di- War period, and raised major questions about verse views toward Russia within the European the future of U.S. relations with Russia, Geor- Union. In general, the East European countries gia and most of the former Soviet region. The are far more concerned about an imperial Rus- war was also a wake-up call (to those who may sia, while the West European countries are more somehow have still been asleep): The post-Cold concerned about maintaining economic and War period—a time marked by a prostrate Rus- other ties with Russia, lest conflict push the Eu- sia and virtually unchecked American power in ropean experiment beyond its breaking point. the region—is over. In this new post-post-Cold These differences are highlighted whenever War period, the challenge for U.S. policymak- the word “Georgia” is spoken within European ers is to craft a strategy that recognizes both the Union council chambers. Many East European potential danger Russia poses to its neighbors elites believe that NATO membership for Geor- and the limits to U.S. influence in the region— gia (as well as Ukraine) should be fast-tracked; limits that have only grown tighter thanks to any other course of action would seem to reward the ongoing global economic crisis.
    [Show full text]
  • Nato Enlargement: Qualifications and Contributions—Parts I–Iv Hearings
    S. HRG. 108–180 NATO ENLARGEMENT: QUALIFICATIONS AND CONTRIBUTIONS—PARTS I–IV HEARINGS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION MARCH 27, AND APRIL 1, 3 AND 8, 2003 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 90–325 PDF WASHINGTON : 2003 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 17:42 Nov 12, 2003 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 90325 SFORELA1 PsN: SFORELA1 COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana, Chairman CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware LINCOLN CHAFEE, Rhode Island PAUL S. SARBANES, Maryland GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio BARBARA BOXER, California LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee BILL NELSON, Florida NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire JON S. CORZINE, New Jersey KENNETH A. MYERS, JR., Staff Director ANTONY J. BLINKEN, Democratic Staff Director (II) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 17:42 Nov 12, 2003 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 90325 SFORELA1 PsN: SFORELA1 CONTENTS Thursday, March 27, 2003—Part I Page Allen, Hon. George, U.S. Senator from Virginia, opening statement .................
    [Show full text]
  • Tskhinvali: Shock And
    Editorial.qxd 3/12/05 2:07 AM Page 3 3 Editorial Tskhinvali: Shock and Awe Georgia’s war On 7th August 2008, President Saakashvili of Georgia launched an all-out military assault on the capital town of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali. The town was partly destroyed. Estimates of civilian deaths vary, between fifteen hundred and two thousand. Precise figures may become available quite soon, now that it is possible to recover and bury the dead*. Thirty-four thousand South Ossetians fled to the neighbouring territory of North Ossetia, which is part of the Federal Russian State, and they can all talk. They have been doing so incessantly, telling stories of untrammelled brutality. Tskhinvali was left without water, electricity or gas. The bombardment was continuous, not only from the air, but also by salvoes of Katyusha type rockets based in lethal batteries close to the Georgian town of Gori. When the children of Tskhinvali thought that it was safe to crawl out of the basements into the streets, looking for food, all too often they were shot by Georgian forces. These had also killed many Russian peacekeepers who had been based in the town under the Treaty that settled the previous civil war, which broke out with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the subsequent abrogation of South Ossetian and other autonomies by the newly proclaimed Republic of Georgia. On 21 August 1968, the armies of the Soviet Union and some of its allies in the Warsaw Treaty pushed into Czechoslovakia to terminate the Prague Spring, with its aspiration of ‘socialism with a human face’.
    [Show full text]
  • The Power 100
    SPECIAL FEATURE | the PoweR 100 THE POWER 100 The brains behind the poltical players that shape our nation, the media minds that shape our opinions, the developers who revitalize our region, and the business leaders and philanthropists that are always pushing the envelope ... power, above all, is influence he Washington socialite-hostess gathers the ripe fruit of These things by their very nature cannot remain static – political, economic, and cultural orchards and serves it and therefore our list changes with the times. Tup as one fabulous cherry bombe at a charity fundraiser Power in Washington is different than in other big cities. or a private soirée with Cabinet secretaries and other major Unlike New York, where wealth-centric power glitters with political players. Two men shake hands in the U.S. Senate and the subtlety of old gold, wealth doesn’t automatically confer a bill passes – or doesn’t. The influence to effect change, be it power; in Washington, rather, it depends on how one uses it. in the minds or actions of one’s fellow man, is simultaneously Washington’s power is fundamentally colored by its the most ephemeral quantity (how does one qualify or rate proximity to politics, and in this presidential season, even it?) and the biggest driving force on our planet. more so. This year, reading the tea leaves, we gave a larger nod In Washington, the most obvious source of power is to the power behind the candidates: foreign policy advisors, S È political. However, we’ve omitted the names of those who fundraisers, lobbyists, think tanks that house cabinets-in- draw government paychecks here, figuring that it would waiting, and influential party leaders.
    [Show full text]
  • Hfx 2O2o Table of Contents
    HFX 2O2O TABLE OF CONTENTS Welcome 05 Builder Award 07 Peace With Women Fellowship 09 2020 Agenda 10 China Handbook for Democracies 12 IPSOS 14 Participants 18 About HFX 40 Halifax Forum Founders 41 In Memoriam 42 Partners and Supporting Organizations 44 Community Partners 49 2 #HFX2020 | HalifaxTheForum.org WELCOME TO HALIFAX INTERNATIONAL SECURITY FORUM 20202014 Halifax International Security Forum 3 "WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE FOR; AND WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE AGAINST. THIS IS HOW HFX2O2O DIFFERS FROM ALL OTHER CONFERENCES OF SIMILAR STATURE." 4 #HFX2020 | HalifaxTheForum.org WELCOME On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am pleased and proud to welcome you to the 12th Halifax International Security Forum or as we are calling it: HFX2020. Halifax International Security Forum prides itself on being a prescient guide to the year ahead. Still, when we met in person in Halifax, Nova Scotia in November 2019 we could not predict the pandemic and accompanying uncertainty that 2020 would bring. As a result of the pandemic, HFX2020—like all meetings scheduled since March—will not meet in person. Instead, my team worked diligently for months to bring you, the HFX community of democratic leaders from around the world, a timely, relevant, and important virtual gathering. The dynamic live panel discussions that HFX has brought to its community for more than a decade are moving on-screen. From studios in Halifax, Ottawa, and Washington, DC, HFX2020 will bring the most important issues of the day to a wider audience than ever before. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Those of you who traveled to Halifax in years past to join the Forum, and those of you who are watching the Forum for the first time, will be among like-minded people committed to enhancing human dignity around the world.
    [Show full text]
  • ~Iva(Serbs Are .F\Dmitting Bosnia~Crqatia
    This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas http://dolearchives.ku.edu NEW YORK TIMES NOVEMBER 13,1993 ~iva(Serbs Are .f\dmitting Bosnia~CrQatia . Atrocities By CHUCK SUDETIC Special to The New York Times BELGRADE, Yugoslavia, Nov. 12 - in northern and eastern Bosnia that the E.mbro_iled in ~ venor_nous. ele~tion , Serbs overran early in the Bosnian eampa1gn, . Ser~1an !1at1onahst n".als . war. Mr. Seselj's statement is the first ~av.e adm1_tted publicly· for the first public admission by a top politician time that_ fighters under the co~trol of that units directly answerable to the ~ · ·Serbian Government earned out ' Government of Serbia were involved in ' Mtocities and plundered entire towns attacks in Bosnia and Herzegovina. iJl'Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina B"lll R t d d c6.ver the·last two years. I ons epor e 1nvo 1 ve · .·~l'he descriptions of atrocities by Ser- ; " This plunder,'' he said, "ended up in bian forces appeared in articles pub- the pockets of the most renowned state lished in Belgrade's press today and leaders and the mafia that rules here, Thursday. They include charges and including even Slobodan Milosevic. recriminations by a journalist closely . They have taken an enormous amount associated with the Yugoslav Army, · of money to Cyprus and to other for- and by extension with the Serbian Gov- I eign banks. Several billion dollars were entment of President Slobodan Milose- ' taken from the country." w~ · and by the leader of the· militant "The money is mainly abroad in Ute nationalist Serbian Radical Party, Vo- private accounts of people who are jjSlav Seselj.
    [Show full text]