{"id":18360,"date":"2015-02-13T16:30:49","date_gmt":"2015-02-13T05:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=18360"},"modified":"2015-02-16T09:34:15","modified_gmt":"2015-02-15T22:34:15","slug":"aspi-suggests-13feb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-13feb\/","title":{"rendered":"ASPI suggests"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Will<\/a><\/figure>\n

We\u2019re keeping your Black Friday screens bright with infographics of the conflict in Syria, private military security companies, China\u2019s military, India and Australian uranium, Fatboy Kim and more.<\/p>\n

The Institute for the Study of War has ‘maps on maps on maps’ with a useful series of situation reports and infographics on Syria<\/a> showing the location and advance of the various groups involved in the conflict. ISW\u2019s latest chart<\/a> (PDF) shows ISIS continuing to lose ground in northeastern Aleppo, while their 9 February map<\/a> (PDF) marks out areas controlled by the regime, ISIS, rebels, Kurds and others.<\/p>\n

In case you missed it, here’s the full text of President Obama’s newly unveiled National Security Strategy<\/a>. For a quick hit, check out this\u00a0summary<\/a>, but for those who want to dig a bit deeper, check out Thomas Fedyszyn’s wrap on The National Interest<\/em><\/a>, Michael Krepon on Arms Control Wonk<\/em><\/a>, and National Security Adviser Susan Rice as she takes questions\u00a0at the 35-minute mark of this Brookings event<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hat tip to our friends over at CIMSEC for their first multi-authored report on the role of private military security companies (PMCs) in the maritime domain, available free for download here<\/a>. Of particular interest to Strategist<\/em> readers is the first chapter by Scott Cheney-Peters on PMCs in South and Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n

Also on Southeast Asia, the jailing of former opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, on sodomy charges isn\u2019t just bad news for Malaysia\u2019s democratic street cred<\/a>, write Murray Hiebert and Nigel Cory, but it’s a challenge to the US’ project nurturing closer ties with Kuala Lumpur. Keep reading on the\u00a0cogitASIA<\/em> blog here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Military wonks, RAND has a new report \u2018China\u2019s Incomplete Military Transformation\u2019<\/a> (PDF) which assesses, among other things, the PLA\u2019s weaknesses, the trajectory of modernisation from the mid-90s to 2025, and China\u2019s defence industry. For a quick wrap of the report\u2019s main findings, read this Breaking Defense <\/em>post here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s agreement to sell uranium to India is back in the news. Carnegie Endowment\u2019s Mark Hibbs has a cautionary note<\/a> about India\u2019s attempts to weaken information-sharing provisions; he writes:<\/p>\n

[Australian] Parliamentarians should consider that what Australia requires in its arrangement with India may have signal impact this May when the NPT\u2019s 189 parties review the treaty. They might also consider that the international reputation of Australia\u2019s uranium industry has increasingly depended upon transparent implementation of national policies, including on nonproliferation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

George Lekakis highlights the submissions of nuclear experts John Carlson and Ronald Walker<\/a> to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, both of whom have said \u2018nay\u2019 to the current terms of the Australia\u2013India deal.<\/p>\n

For the IR nerds, Dan Trombly has a thoughtful response to John Mearsheimer\u2019s suggestion that we ought to leave Ukraine as a buffer state<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lastly, Fatboy Kim or tyrannical Fred Flintstone, will the real Kim Jong-un please stand up? If you wanted to know more about the \u2018world\u2019s most enigmatic and unpredictable dictator\u2019 read Vanity Fair\u2019s<\/a><\/em> feature by Mark Bowden<\/a> on the boy-king\u2019s upbringing in Switzerland\u00a0and his penchant for b-ball.<\/p>\n

Videos<\/strong><\/p>\n

DARPA is lending a hand to prosthetics research with the DEKA Arm System (aka \u2018Luke\u2019 after Luke Skywalker) which was first developed to benefit wounded veterans. Watch as the system allows users to scale a rock wall<\/a> or grip slippery objects like plastic water bottles<\/a> (YouTube).<\/p>\n

Podcasts<\/strong><\/p>\n

The latest episode of cogitASIA<\/em>\u2019s podcast<\/a> features Bonnie Glaser on US\u2013China military relations and crisis management mechanisms, and Zachary Abuza on a botched Philippines police raid in Mindanao and the MILF peace process (28mins).<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, turning to Africa, the team at Loopcast have a new podcast on Nigeria and Boko Haram with guest Hilary Matfess<\/a> (41mins).<\/p>\n

Events<\/strong><\/p>\n

Melbourne: The Women in Emergency Services, Enforcement and Defence Leadership Summit 2015<\/a> features a range of key speakers on strategies and skills for career progression to improving workplace cultures to encourage and sustain women\u2019s leadership. The event is on 27 and 28 April at the Marriott Hotel. Flyer and registration details here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Natalie Sambhi is an analyst at ASPI and managing editor of <\/em>The Strategist. Image courtesy of Kim.Jong.Tour<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re keeping your Black Friday screens bright with infographics of the conflict in Syria, private military security companies, China\u2019s military, India and Australian uranium, Fatboy Kim and more. The Institute for the Study of War …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":18367,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[478],"tags":[52,765,69,702,781,274,1137],"class_list":["post-18360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aspi-suggests","tag-china","tag-darpa","tag-india","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-private-military-contractors","tag-syria","tag-uranium"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nASPI suggests | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-13feb\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ASPI suggests | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We\u2019re keeping your Black Friday screens bright with infographics of the conflict in Syria, private military security companies, China\u2019s military, India and Australian uranium, Fatboy Kim and more. The Institute for the Study of War ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-13feb\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-13T05:30:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-02-15T22:34:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/904181_144180939098110_1861564672_o.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1365\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Natalie Sambhi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Natalie Sambhi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-13feb\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/904181_144180939098110_1861564672_o.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/904181_144180939098110_1861564672_o.jpg\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":1365,\"caption\":\"Will the real Kim Jong Un please stand up?\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-13feb\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-13feb\/\",\"name\":\"ASPI suggests | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-13feb\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-13T05:30:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-02-15T22:34:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/04ffc785366d3b75a31b655d5dd38e98\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-13feb\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-13feb\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-13feb\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"ASPI suggests\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/04ffc785366d3b75a31b655d5dd38e98\",\"name\":\"Natalie Sambhi\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2fcc169f10f85de6443d93e8f0d89414?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2fcc169f10f85de6443d93e8f0d89414?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Natalie Sambhi\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/natalie-sambhi\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"ASPI suggests | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-13feb\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"ASPI suggests | The Strategist","og_description":"We\u2019re keeping your Black Friday screens bright with infographics of the conflict in Syria, private military security companies, China\u2019s military, India and Australian uranium, Fatboy Kim and more. The Institute for the Study of War ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-13feb\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2015-02-13T05:30:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-02-15T22:34:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":1365,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/904181_144180939098110_1861564672_o.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Natalie Sambhi","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Natalie Sambhi","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-13feb\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/904181_144180939098110_1861564672_o.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/904181_144180939098110_1861564672_o.jpg","width":2048,"height":1365,"caption":"Will the real Kim Jong Un please stand up?"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-13feb\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-13feb\/","name":"ASPI suggests | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-13feb\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2015-02-13T05:30:49+00:00","dateModified":"2015-02-15T22:34:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/04ffc785366d3b75a31b655d5dd38e98"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-13feb\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-13feb\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-13feb\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ASPI suggests"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/04ffc785366d3b75a31b655d5dd38e98","name":"Natalie Sambhi","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2fcc169f10f85de6443d93e8f0d89414?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2fcc169f10f85de6443d93e8f0d89414?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Natalie Sambhi"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/natalie-sambhi\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18360"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18360"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18390,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18360\/revisions\/18390"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}