Organizers, co-initiators and think-tank partners of Security Jam 2012
Here are some interesting facts from Security Jam 2012:
-over 16,000 logins
-3,000 posts
-more than 400 threads
-8 thematic forums
Based on the above figures, it is safe to say that Security Jam 2012 (Monday 19th-Friday23rd March) was an overwhelming success. Thousands of experts, representatives of national governments and armed forces, international institutions, NGOs, think-tanks, industry, academia and members of the media took part in this massive online brainstorm and focused on finding real solutions to global security issues. Some of the VIPs who took the time to share their ideas with Security ‘Jammers’ included Admiral James Stavridis (Supreme Allied Commander Europe, NATO), General Stéphane Abrial (Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, NATO), Maciej Popowski (Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service), Claude-France Arnould (Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency) and Admiral AnthonyJohnstone-Burt (NATO ACT Chief of Staff).
Day 5 of the Security Jam 2012. Image by SecurityDefenceAgenda.org
We have entered the fifth and last day of the Security Jam (organized by the Security and Defense Agenda), with log-ins from over 110 countries. Day 5 of the Jam will be focusing on concrete recommendations so make sure to log in and make your voice heard before the Jam closes today at 17:00 CET! Here is a recap of the most important points discussed on Days 3 and 4 thus far.
We’re now half-way through the Security Jam (organized by the Security and Defense Agenda), with almost 9,000 logins and 2,000 posts. 31 polls have been published so far, with 56% believing NATO should remain involved in Libya’s transition, and 43% identifying cyber as the most worrying transnational threat. As the Security Jam gathers pace on its third day, many excellent ideas are already out there and have been discussed intensely. Here are the updates from the seven different forums:
Asia’s rise as a locus of international financial and economic power only increases the need to better understand how changes in important structural factors impact security dynamics. In that context, the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses held its 14th annual Asian Security Conference in New Delhi this month. The goal of the gathering, entitled “Nontraditional Security Challenges – Today and Tomorrow,” is “to capture the complex issues involved in Asia’s emergence as the new locus of international affairs in the 21st century and India’s emergence as a factor in the continent’s evolving economic, political and security dynamics.”
The IDSA, an ISN Partner, is an Indian think tank devoted to the study of global strategic and security issues. The organization is funded by the Indian Ministry of Defense, but functions autonomously. It has brought together academics, policy analysts, and officials from government and multilateral organizations, from various Asian countries as well as other parts of the world every year since 1999 to debate upon issues pertaining to Asian affairs.
Opening remarks at the conference were made by IDSA Director General Dr. Arvind Gupta, with a keynote address by Shri Shivshankar Menon, the national Security Advisor to the Indian prime minister. A special address was given by Roza Otunbayeva, former president of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. This meeting addressed the issues of water security, climate change, natural disasters, energy security, transnational crime, and financial and economic security. Each of these challenges has a related impact on food, water and energy resources, as well as implications for national economies and the movement of people, all of which fall between the short- and long-term and consequently are contributing factors to traditional security threats.
The IDSA is at the forefront of an effort to narrow the perception gap between about the relationship between non-traditional and traditional security issues. The hosting of this conference by an India-based organization is highlighted by the fact that India sits at the cross-roads of several important gateways to global power centers: including for energy, economic and trade hubs, sea lanes of communication, and maritime power. This point was highlighted by Ajit Doval in the closing plenary session of the 2011 ISF here in Zurich. Certainly in the case of Asia, the emergence of new threats and the changing context of regional security issues will increasingly become the centerpiece of policy and research agendas around the world.
More and more Chinese travel and work abroad. Photo: ILRI/flickr
The dramatic rise in overseas travel and expatriate work by Chinese was punctuated by the recent kidnappings of Chinese workers in Sudan and Egypt. “Overseas Chinese protection” (haiwai gongmin baohu) has been a critical priority since deadly attacks killed 14 Chinese workers in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2004. Between 2006 and 2010, 6,000 Chinese citizens were evacuated to China from upheavals in the Solomon Islands, East Timor, Lebanon, Tonga, Chad, Thailand, Haiti and Kyrgyzstan.
But a new urgency has arisen in the past year: in 2011, China evacuated 48,000 citizens from Egypt, Libya, and Japan; 13 Chinese merchant sailors were murdered on the Mekong River in northern Thailand in October 2011; and in late January 2012, some 50 Chinese workers were kidnapped in two incidents by Sudanese rebels in South Kordofan Province and by Bedouin tribesmen in the north of Egypt’s Sinai peninsula.
