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The ISN Quiz: E-Waste

Waste not, want not. And we want you to do well in this week’s quiz on e-waste! To learn more about the global challenge of e-waste, check out this week’s Special Report: E-Waste’s Toxic Trail.

[QUIZZIN 6]

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Strategic Trends 2010: Key Developments in Global Affairs

Strategic Trends 2010 – The Center for Security Studies (CSS)

The Center for Security Studies (CSS) has released the inaugural publication, Strategic Trends 2010. Offering a concise annual analysis of major developments in world affairs, Strategic Trends’ primary focus is international security.

Along with the publication, the CSS has also launched the website Strategic Trends Analysis, where you will find both Strategic Trends and the complementary policy brief series CSS Analysis in Security Policy. The website also features graphics, audio and video podcasts, and a discussion forum on current security issues. You can also sign up for the Strategic Trends newsletter to learn about new publications.

Last year was noted as a year of crisis by our in-house policy experts, but 2010 remains a highly uncertain period for recovery. This is not only relates to economics, but broader security threats.

Geoeconomic shifts eastward, energy security, nuclear proliferation, a crisis of political conflict management, and US approaches toward South Asia and the Middle East will be most critical challenges hitting international headlines in 2010.

Sitting at the heart of these policy dilemmas remains a lack of effective global governance. We were presented with formidable challenges in 2009. This year, novel ideas have either been lacking or proven politically impossible to implement. With power gradually shifting from the West to the East, finding effective solutions to global governance questions will become ever more complex.

Another Inquiry or Another Whitewash?

www.antiwarart.co.uk/
Protestors outside the inquiry / Photo: Chris John Beckett/flickr

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair will be recalled for a second round of questioning after conflicting testimonies were given to the Iraq Inquiry.

It is unclear, however, what the consequences could be if Blair is found guilty of promoting false information regarding the existence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in making the case for war. There seems to be a culture of inquiry in the UK that reinforces our democratic conscience but often results in ambiguous or anticlimactic conclusions.

BBC reports in 2003 quoted a government source claiming the 45-minute dossier had been ‘sexed up’ to justify the Iraq invasion. The Hutton Inquiry was held after the source, Ministry of Defence employee David Kelly, was found dead having apparently committed suicide. The inquiry cleared the government of any wrongdoing and heavily criticized the BBC’s actions – a verdict widely condemned by the press as a whitewash.

The Two Sides of Press Freedom

Don't let it yellow: Freedom of Press / Photo: just.Luc, flickr

Freedom of press is challenged, if not restricted, in such places as Yemen, Venezuela, the US and Austria, say the authors of a Swiss public radio (DRS) program. As various as the countries are the causes of that challenge.

Whereas the makers of Al-Ayam in Aden are sitting on piles of newspapers because the Yemeni government prevents them from distributing their publication, Yemen Times is trying to accommodate the government in Sana’a by exercising self-censorship. In Latin America, Hugo Chavez is infamous for his hard hand on media, but also in Argentina the government has tried to restrict them.

But not all restrictions are due to despots, juntas or skittish administrations.

In the US, the challenge to press freedom is economic in nature: the financial crisis has severely weakened metropolitan newspapers. As an example, the DRS reporter mentions the Boston Globe, which during senatorial elections in previous years would dissect each candidate. Not so this time: Massachusetts’ citizens hardly know their new senator of choice, Scott Brown.

US Internet Policy: Do as I Say, Not as I Do

Censored, courtesy of gojira75/flickr

Last week, an article in Arab Crunch stated that internet users from Syria, Sudan, N Korea, Iran and Cuba were not allowed to access some services and sites. The US-based open source repository SourceForge is an example.

It must be said though that these countries are also known for their own site-blocking capabilities.

As always on the World Wide Web, nothing is certain. But the evidences point out that it is the US government that is prohibiting access to these websites. These five countries are subject to US sanctions, and as such, Washington is restraining internet access to users in these ‘blacklisted’ countries. It is also worth saying that 4 out of 5 of these countries are the one “sponsoring terrorism” (North Korea having been removed in 2008 following bilateral negotiation on non-proliferation).

But US companies and the citizens of the countries mentioned are not the only ones affected by the sanctions.