In The News

Is Big Data Turning Government Into Big Brother?

Michael Liedtke June 7, 2013
Privacy advocates have long been concerned about the US National Security Agency collecting data on US citizens and foreigners. Recent reports that Verizon and likely other US telecommunications firms are handing over phone logs stir new concerns about surveillance activities started under the George W. Bush administration. Individuals who use digital devices leave digital trails, reports Michael...

Maritime Game-Changer Revealed at Shangri-La Dialogue

Rory Medcalf June 6, 2013
US naval vessels have long conducted surveillance activities in China’s exclusive economic zone, 12 to 200 nautical miles off the coast. China is now following the US lead, conducting its own surveillance off the coasts of Guam and Hawaii; “somewhat counter-intuitively, this may prove to be in the interests of peace, stability and security right across Indo-Pacific Asia,” writes Rory Medcalf in...

Asia’s New Triangle

Harsh V. Pant June 4, 2013
With China’s relations with Japan and its Southeast Asian neighbors worsening over territorial disputes, Beijing is ramping up its efforts to mend fences with India. The task is not easy, explains security expert Harsh V. Pant. Just before Li Keqiang visited India, his first foreign trip as China’s premier, Chinese troops entered Indian territory in the Ladakh area, provoking a three-week...

Vietnam PM Seeks Regional Unity as China Pushes Maritime Claims

John O'Callaghan June 4, 2013
Amid tensions in the South China Sea, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has called upon other Southeast Asian nations for unity during his address at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual regional forum in Singapore. According to Reuters, Dung urged ASEAN members to stay united rather than “take sides with one country or the other for the benefit of their own relationships with big powers...

Brazil Closer to Boeing on Jets Deal

Brian Winter May 31, 2013
During a trip to Brazil, US Vice President Joe Biden suggested that the two largest economies in the Americas could become closer trading partners – and he urged Brazil to seal the deal with a purchase of at least 36 Boeing military jets. Aviation firms in France and Sweden are also contenders for the Brazil contract. Biden assured President Dilma Rousseff that, because of recent budget cuts that...

Chinese Hackers Linked to Attack on Australian Spy Agency

Neil Hume May 29, 2013
Secrets are not secure on the internet, with hackers intent on prying into every online nook and cranny. An Australian Broadcasting Corporation documentary claims that Chinese hackers have stolen the blueprint for Australia’s new intelligence agency before it even opens, reports Neil Hume for the Financial Times. China is Australia’s largest trade partner. “The report also claimed several...

Afghans Nervous as Nawaz Sharif Returns

Hafizullah Gardesh, Mina Habib May 29, 2013
Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League will take his third turn at prime minister, and Afghans are wary about relations between the two countries, considering that Sharif backed mujahedin resistance against the Soviet-backed government in the 1980s and recognized the Taliban government in 1997, report Hafizullah Gardesh and Mina Habib for the Institute for War & Peace Reporting. “Kabul...