CSS Blog Network
This week’s featured graphic summarizes the efforts of Switzerland’s National Economic Supply (NES) organization to deal with shortages in vital goods and services since 2010. To find out more about the NES, read Andrin Hauri’s new CSS Analysis in Security Policy on ‘National Economic Supply as an Emergency Precaution’.
This article was originally published by the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM) on 23 October 2019.
Since the Russian aggression in Ukraine, relations between the European Union and the Russian Federation have been at an impasse. The EU has limited cooperation with Russia to the principle of selective engagement. This model lacks precise definition and is not conditional on changes in Russian politics, so may weaken the EU’s external policy and threaten the bloc’s security.
This article was originally published by the Stimson Center on 31 October 2019.
Topline
Since the beginning of the tariff war in mid-2018, the escalation of the trade tensions has been widely expected to continue into the 2020 presidential election season. While President Trump’s team may still believe that a trade deal is well within reach in the near future, that perception is not at all shared by the Chinese government. The U.S. and China have entered a war of attrition. U.S. policy makers need to prepare for a long game regarding trade tensions and the eventual de-coupling of the two economies, regardless of whether that was the original intention.
This publication was originally published by Political Violence @ a Glance on 16 October 2019.
The Turkish incursion into northern Syria has revealed a central truth in international affairs: that the future of military interventions will not be Vietnam-style imbroglios or long wars of attrition. They will be mostly one-off cross-border incursions of limited lifespans, casualties, or attention (though, contrary to many recent cross-border operations, Turkey’s latest incursion has attracted a lot of attention). The terrain will be difficult and rural; the level of governance minimal.
As a highly developed, landlocked resource-poor country that relies on imports for many vital commodities and services, Switzerland is comparatively vulnerable to disruptions of supply. This graphic provides an overview of a selected number of such imports and more.
To find out about how Switzerland attempts to ensure the supply of essential goods and services in times of crises, read Andrin Hauri’s recent CSS Analyses in Security Policy ‘National Economic Supply as an Emergency Precaution.’