Center for Strategic Communication

US Missile Defense Shield To Counter N Korea Threat

The Associated Press

The Pentagon said Wednesday it was deploying a missile defense shield to Guam to protect the U.S. and its allies in the region in response to increasingly hostile rhetoric from North Korea. The North renewed its threat to launch a nuclear attack on the United States.

 

It’s North Korea, Again

The Editorial Board / New York Times

The Paper argues recent weeks of saber-rattling and military escalation have affirmed a harsh truth: North Korea – which is much closer to putting a nuclear warhead on a missile than Iran and has threatened to strike the United States and its allies – is the more urgent challenge. The major powers still haven’t figured out how to solve it. Plotting next steps should be high on the agenda when Mr.  Kerry visits Beijing next week. There’s no guarantee any strategy will be successful, but military escalation in no answer either.

 

China must act on North Korea if it wants respect

Anne Applebaum / The Washington Post

The author argues if China’s new leadership keeps propping up North Korea – which it helped create and which it has supported for more than half a century – then we’ll know that the China Dream really is just a slogan. If, on the other hand, China’s leaders want more respect, they can earn it by resolving a crisis that really is of their making.

 

Syria’s humanitarian crisis worsening rapidly: Red Cross

Reuters

The humanitarian situation in Syria is worsening rapidly with some areas a landscape of “devastation and destruction”, the Red Cross said on Thursday after a month which activists said was the bloodiest yet in the conflict.

 

The Truth About Geoengineering

David G. Victor, M. Granger Morgan, Jay Apt, John Steinbruner, and Katharine Ricke / Foreign Affairs

Global warming is accelerating, and although engineering the climate strikes most people as a bad idea, it is time to take it seriously.

 

The South China Sea is an important world energy trade route

U.S. Energy Information Administration

Stretching from Singapore and the Strait of Malacca chokepoint in the southwest to the Strait of Taiwan in the northeast, the South China Sea is one of the most important energy trade routes in the world. Almost a third of global crude oil and over half of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) passes through the South China Sea each year.

 

Power Struggle Is Gripping Iran Ahead of June Election

Thomas Erdbrink / New York Times

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not going quietly. With only three months to go in his second and last presidential term, he has raised a series of controversies intended, experts say, to reshape his public image and secure the support of dissatisfied urban Iranians for his handpicked successor, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei.

 

ASP Recently Published

 

AMERICAN SECURITY QUARTERLY

Read our latest collection of our writings in this edition of American Security Quarterly – with special lead of American competitiveness

 

The Global Security Defense Index on Climate Change: Preliminary Results

By Andrew Holland and Xander Vagg

The American Security Project releases the preliminary results of a new resource on climate change and national security: The Global Security and Defense index on Climate Change. The Index analyzes how governments around the world and their militaries plan for and anticipate the strategic threats of climate change.

 

On Our Flashpoint Blog

 

Event Recap: MGen Muniruzzaman on Climate Change and Global Security

By Xander Vagg

General Muniruzzaman joined the American Security Project’s CEO Brigadier General Stephen Cheney and Senior Energy & Climate Fellow Andrew Holland onstage yesterday for a discussion of the effects climate change wreaks on national security both in Bangladesh and around the world.

 

Words and Deeds

By August Cole

There is no better sign of importance of image and narrative in the 21st century global economics and politics than can be found in quarterly financial statements of the advertising industry.

 

Event Recap: Nation Branding and Global Politics

“The best branding is good policy,” said Sir Martin Sorrell, founder and CEO of the world’s largest advertising and communications company in the world, WPP. Sir Martin was the main speaker at ASP‘s event on Nation Branding and Global Politics earlier today, where he shared perspectives on country and city branding.

 

The international marketing of the F-35 that the United States needs

By BGen Stephen A Cheney USMC (Ret.)

Today the Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced possible Foreign Military Sale to South Korea of 60 F-35 Lightning IIs for estimated $10.8 billion.

 

The STEM Jobs Shortfall Is a National Security Shortcoming We Can Fix

By Justin Yarros

At the top of the list of challenges to American competitiveness and national security is the lack of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) graduates in our schools and universities.

 

This Week in Public Diplomacy April 1

Read about #AlQaeda, #CulturalDiplomacy, #VideoGameDiplomacy and more!

 

Upcoming Events

 

A Conversation with Tobias Ellwood MP: The UK in the EU and the Future of Transatlantic Cooperation

Wednesday, April 10 at 8:30 AM – The European Union (EU) is going through major political and economic changes. There is much debate on the future of the United Kingdom within institutions of the EU. Join us to discuss this and many more issues with Tobias Ellwood MP.

 

The Future of the U.S. Nuclear Deterrent: A Conversation with Amb. Linton Brooks

Monday, April 15 at 12:30 PM – Join us for a conversation with Linton Brooks, Ambassador and former Administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

 

The Geo political Implications of U.S. Natural Gas Exports

Tuesday, April 16 at 12:30 PM – How do U.S. natural gas exports impact American security and that of its allies? Join us for a discussion with experts and ally representatives.