Strategic Review on Global Hotspots

AIES President Dr. Werner Fasslabend discussed strategic challenges in global hotspots for 2021 with seven guest speakers.

12.02.2021

On the 28th of January 2021, AIES President Dr. Werner Fasslabend discussed strategic challenges in global hotspots for 2021 with seven guest speakers. The event was opened by the Director of the Diplomatische Akademie Wien, Dr. Emil Brix. Afterwards, experts Martin Sajdik, Wolfgang Pusztai, Walter Feichtinger, Herbert Traxl, Nikolaus Scholik, Alfred Gerstl, and Ralph Thiele shared their insights on strategic trends in Eastern Europe, Africa and the Mediterranean Sea, the Middle East, India, China, Southeast Asia, and Space.

Among other things, the experts highlighted that in Eastern Europe, countries are still struggling with the consequences of the collapse of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. Besides, in Africa and the Mediterranean, countries are facing key challenges regarding demographic development, corruption, environmental degradation, and economic collapse. Furthermore, in the Middle East, Israel is no longer the number one threat, but Iran is. Meanwhile, the Indo-Pacific, including the South China Sea, has become a crucial region when it comes to global economic and political affairs, in which China, India, the US, and Southeast Asian countries play a vital role. Finally, space is increasingly becoming a domain of competition and conflict, in which Russia and China have made rapid technological improvements in their security and defence systems, while the EU and NATO countries have to level up their innovation.