WORLD ROUNDUPIsrael-Hamas Conflict Is Also a War Over Water | Mine Warfare in Taiwan’s Porcupine Defense | Disrupting South Korea’s Two-Party System, and more
· Breakaway Parties Threaten to Disrupt South Korea’s Two-Party System – Can They Also End Parliamentary Gridlock?
South Korea’s two dominant parties are grappling with internal struggles and political controversies that are fueling the prospect of new, breakaway parties making gains
· Israel-Hamas Conflict Is Also a War Over Water
In Gaza, Palestinians are suffering from a lack of food and water. Problems around water supply in Palestinian territories are hardly new in this conflict, but the current Israel-Hamas war is making the issues worse.
· Expanding Surveillance Powers? Israel’s Draft Bill to Revise Shin Bet Law
The bill provides the government with certain novel surveillance and remote interference authorities.
· Learning from the War on Terror
Israeli should review operations in Gaza and revise military strategy and doctrine using the lessons learned in two decades of the Global War on Terror.
· Delay, Disrupt, Degrade: Mine Warfare in Taiwan’s Porcupine Defense
To exploit mine warfare, Taiwan would need to make it an investment priority, expanding the size and diversity of its mine stockpile and minelaying capabilities and improving its readiness to execute such a campaign.
Breakaway Parties Threaten to Disrupt South Korea’s Two-Party System – Can They Also End Parliamentary Gridlock? (Jong Eun Lee, The Conversation)
Contemporary South Korean politics has traditionally been dominated by just two main parties – in common with many other countries with strong presidential systems. But that could soon change.
Recent voter discontent is creating opportunities for smaller political parties in the upcoming parliamentary election on April 10, 2024.
Heading into that vote, the two main parties – President Yoon Suk Yeol’s People Power Party and the opposition Democratic Party – between them hold 270 seats in the 300-member parliament. But both parties are grappling with internal struggles and political controversies that are fueling the prospect of new, breakaway parties making gains.
The result could be a multi-party legislature. As a political scientist with a focus on East Asia and international affairs, I believe that outcome has the potential of transforming the country’s domestic and international agenda.
Israel-Hamas Conflict Is Also a War Over Water (Kersten Knipp, DW)
Experts are sounding the alarm: The threat of famine in the Gaza Strip is real. If nothing changes, famine would likely start in the northern end of the enclave by May. Half of the people still living in the area are already in dire straits, say experts from the multinational expert group that works on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative.
The IPC is made up of representatives from 19 international organizations, including the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, Oxfam, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Bank, the World Food Programme, and Save the Children.
The IPC defines famine, the most serious level of its “food insecurity scale,” as a situation where “at least 20% of the population is affected, with about one out of three children being acutely malnourished and two people dying per day for every 10,000 inhabitants due to outright starvation or to the interaction of malnutrition and disease.”
The report says the current situation in Gaza will likely result in that scenario in the near future. Access to medical care, water and sanitation will also be limited. (Cont.)
