Center for Strategic Communication

The Conversion of a Climate-Change Skeptic

Richard Muller/ New York Times

Call me a converted skeptic. Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year… I concluded that global warming was real and… humans are almost entirely the cause.

 

West Bank’s Emerging Silicon Valley Evades Issues of Borders


Isabel Kershner/The New York Times

 
The technology industry has an advantage in that it is less affected by borders, checkpoints, and other barriers to movement.  In the West Bank, a growing tech sector is learning to exploit this opportunity.

World Bank says rising food prices a concern, ready to help

Doug Palmer/Reuters

 
The World Bank is ready to assist governments in dealing with a rise in grain prices that is putting millions of people at risk and could result in long-term consequences.

 

Retiring Envoy to Afghanistan Exhorts U.S to Heed Its Past

Alissa J. Rubin/ New York Times


The American diplomat most associated with the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan says that American policy makers need to learn the lessons of the recent past as they weigh military options for the future, including for Syria and Iran:

 

 

The Strategic Consequences Of The Euro-Crisis: Cracks In NATO, New Euro Map

Harald Malmgren and Robbin Laird/ AOL Defense

The Euro crisis is not simply a financial dynamic. It is the end of a period of history, the confluence of several trend lines: the unification of Germany, the end of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the expansion of NATO, the expansion of the European Union, and the creation of the single currency together constitute a unique period in modern European history.

 

Iran says to keep Hormuz open as long as it serves its interests

Zahra Hosseinian/ Reuters

Iran will keep the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane open as long as the waterway served its interests, a military commander was on Monday quoted as saying.

 

Pakistan to push for intel share at U.S. talks

Praveen Menon / Reuters

Pakistan’s spy chief will call for an end to U.S. drone strikes in its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and push for a sharing of technology and intelligence during a visit to Washington this week, the country’s interior minister said on Monday.

 

Leon Panetta: Syria’s Bashar Assad dooming himself

AP/ Politico

Syrian President Bashar Assad’s use of helicopter gunships to counter a civil uprising will prove to be “a nail in Assad’s coffin,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Sunday at the outset of a five-day Mideast tour.

 

On Our Flashpoint Blog

 

LOTS of tension brewing in the South China Sea

Prachi Naik

A small two-square-mile island in the South China Sea is finding itself at the center of an alarming multistate power struggle with tangible implications for American national security concerns.

 

Tidal Energy Comes to the US

Catherine Foley

The nation’s first commercial tidal energy project was dedicated on Tuesday in Eastport, Maine, marking a milestone for the future of renewable energy in the US.

 

Geoengineering: A Far Off Solution to Climate Change

Carl Grote

With further research needed for geoengineering techniques, curbing carbon emissions remains our best bet for combating climate change.

 

The Biggest Challenge to American Solar Manufacturing

Matthew Baker

Chinese competitors have been accused of selling modules below production costs. In selling modules at what American producers claim are unreasonably low prices, Chinese manufacturers are unfairly reducing the ability for American manufacturers to compete.

 

CNOOC Makes Bid for Canadian Tar Sands

Nick Cunningham

This week, the China National Offshore Oil Cooperation (CNOOC) made a big move into Canadian tar sands.

 

About the American Security Project: The American Security Project is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy and research organization dedicated to fostering knowledge and understanding of a range of national security issues, promoting debate about the appropriate use of American power, and cultivating strategic responses to 21st century challenges.

 

For more information, visit www.americansecurityproject.org. info@americansecurityproject.org