Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/768342
15 11. MAKE WAY FOR AI According to Nostradamus, commercial space travel will take off with orbital flights around the Earth in 2017 but Richard Branson will have to wait a while longer before in- vading space. 2017 is however expected to be a big year for Artificial Intelligence (AI) thanks to tech giants such as Apple, Face- book, Google and Microsoft. The rapid advance of artificial intelligence has enabled re- markable new technologies – self-driving cars, automated personal assistants – but it also threatens millions of jobs. Computer "brains" are now giving humans the power to simulate virtual worlds and giving computers the intelli- gence to understand the real world. You won't necessarily need to buy a new phone, TV or tablet to bring the advances of AI into your home. They'll come in updates and apps, as well as in shiny new gadgets. On the downside, these apps will increase the chances of be- ing hacked while a handful of big companies will continue to consolidate their power over what you read and watch. 12. REAWAKENING OF THE RUSSIAN BEAR A divided Europe could allow Vladimir Putin to expand Russia's sphere of influence in its borderlands, especially the Baltics. While NATO flirts with Georgia and Ukraine, both tra- ditionally part of Russia's sphere of influence, the Trump administration may ease sanctions and co-operate more in Syria as it tries to deflate the conflict with Moscow. However this will be limited as Russia looks to increase its leverage particularly in cyberspace and the Middle East. Despite Trump's overtures to Putin, the US won't be en- tirely happy with this and will want to contain Russia as the two continue to play spoiler and peacemaker in the Middle East. While a Syrian peace settlement will remain elusive, Russia will keep close to Iran as US-Iran relations are expected to deteriorate. 13. MORE CELEBS WILL DIE This time next year we'll be mourning some actor, musi- cian or author and cursing 2017 for being the worst year in our lives. But before giving 2016 the middle finger for taking away David Bowie, Mohammed Ali, Dario Fo, Leonard Cohen, Umberto Eco, Prince and Fidel Castro, remember that 2017 will be as bad as the year coming to an end and every single year. Famous people will die, but so will many others whom we do not know and whose death will not occupy the front pages. maltatoday, SATURDAY, 31 DECEMBER 2016 News the Mediterranean in 2016 has topped 4,700. After a rocky start which saw an EU mission covering much less, and with considerably fewer resources than the preceding Italian- financed Mare Nostrum, and a series of dramatic shipwrecks, the budget of Operation Triton was tripled. Operation Triton is not only a search and rescue mission, it is also a border control and surveillance mission. This dual role provides for a potential conflict of interest, whilst also deflecting much- needed resources for search and rescue onto security. The militaristic approach of Operation Triton is controversial from a human rights point of view from various aspects. Suffice it to mention the massive financing stream needed to maintain its military characteristic but also its obsessive focus on capturing smugglers, which although legitimate from a legal point of view, clearly does not result in either reducing the numbers of irregular migrants or more importantly making the passage safer for them. This however is part of the dominant EU policy approach, which will continue in the coming year. There are many small counter movements by civil society prioritising humane treatment. One such project which is worth mentioning for the significance of its political message to EU policy makers is a project called 'humanitarian corridors' or in Italian 'corridoi umanitari'. This initiative was borne out of a recognition that the only way to address the undertaking of risky irregular journeys over land and sea by asylum seekers is not through militarisation of borders, but by providing safe, legal access. In 2015 and 2016, the 'humanitarian corridors' pilot project helped organise the transportation of the most vulnerable people wishing to seek asylum in Europe from refugee camps in Lebanon. This is a project which is run jointly by the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy, the Community of St Egidio, the Waldensian Church and the Italian government. The initiative is legally possible using Article 25 of Regulation (EC) 810/2009 of 13 July, 2009 that establishes the possibility of granting visas with limited territorial validity, notwithstanding the entry provisions pursuant to the Schengen Borders Code, "for humanitarian reasons or national interest or under International obligations". It guarantees the security of both the concerned Member States (since the fingerprints of refugees are taken before departure in Lebanon) and refugees (who are not likely to search for the services of smugglers or fall into the hands of human traffickers). This initiative is sustainable since costs have been covered by civil society, namely the churches and communities involved. Through the project around 500 refugees were brought to Italy out of a total of 1,000 refugees. It is a small number, but it serves as an example that there is a viable alternative that allows the EU to show solidarity with these people in need. Safe, legal passage ensures rightly access to asylum, avoids problems of lack of identification, reduces the proliferation of illegal activity and allows a state to prepare and manage asylum flows. This pilot project will go on in 2017 and it is hoped that it will be taken on by other EU Member States too. On the migration front, it does not appear that Malta's Presidency of the EU will present anything new or stray from the contemporary dominant approaches. Confirming the security focus that has been prevalent for the last years, Malta has promised to take leadership in the migration and terrorism field. On the issue of legal migration, Malta will support the current EU policy to attract and facilitate highly qualified immigrants. As many have shown this does not make sense from an economic point of view, since it ignores the reality that in most EU Member States there are labour market gaps which require non-highly qualified persons. It also does not make sense from an ethico-political point of view, since there are no discussions on removing the inherent discrimination characteristic of current border management which privileges people coming from select countries or with a high level of wealth, and actively strives to exclude asylum seekers. Malta has declared what its priorities areas are in the field of asylum: strengthening and streamlining the Common European Asylum System in order to distribute the migration load among member states more evenly, revising the Dublin Regulation, transforming the role of the European Asylum Support Office into a fully- fledged European Agency, ensuring better implementation of the relocation agreement, and pushing for a holistic approach to migration. These are laudable priority areas and one hopes that Malta will lead in ensuring that genuine human rights considerations are a priority in policy development. However, and this brings me back to my previous points, all these asylum-related measures are futile if people needing asylum do not manage to cross into the EU, and if there remain equally strong and much better funded policies that will keep more people out, including those in need of asylum and protection. Immigration has steadily become a litmus test of our societies' capacity to treat people with dignity, or as is listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 'to recognise the inherent dignity of all'. And the grim reality is that we and our communities enter a 2017 imbued with a solidarity and human rights crisis which will make the quest for social and global justice more demanding, but also more pertinent. In this scenario we need to recognise that the 'refugee' or the 'migrant' does not describe any person. They are but labels best left in the legal ambit where they can be useful. The person behind the migrant/refugee label is the worker, the parent, the child, the friend who like citizen workers, parents, children, is navigating life in societies where solidarity, equality, justice and the value of human life itself are under threat. Daniela DeBono Ph.D. (Sussex) is a Marie Curie COFAS Fellow, European University Institute (Italy) & Senior Lecturer, Malmö University (Sweden) Both Vladimir Putin and Recep Erdogan have imperialist aspirations