Center for Strategic Communication

 

Climate impacts ‘overwhelming’ – UN

Matt McGrath / BBC

The impacts of global warming are likely to be “severe, pervasive and irreversible”, a major report by the UN has warned. Scientists and officials meeting in Japan say the document is the most comprehensive assessment to date of the impacts of climate change on the world.

North and South Korea Exchange Fire Across Disputed Sea Border

Choe Sang-Hun / The New York Times

North Korea and South Korea fired hundreds of artillery shells across their disputed western sea border on Monday, escalating military tensions a day after the North threatened to conduct more nuclear tests.

Medvedev in Crimea as Ukraine Rejects Russia Proposal

Ilya Arkhipov, Henry Meyer, and Kateryna Choursina / Bloomberg

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev arrived in Crimea in the first visit by a top official since Russia annexed the peninsula, as Ukraine rejected the Kremlin’s demands that it grant its regions greater powers.

Nigeria: War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity as Violence Escalates in North-East

Amnesty International

An increase in attacks by Boko Haram and uncontrolled reprisals by Nigeria’s security forces has seen the death toll in North East Nigeria rise to at least 1,500 people, more than half of whom are civilians, in the first three months of 2014, Amnesty International said in a briefing published today.

Venezuela Troops Take Back Protest-Torn City

Al Jazeera

The Venezuelan army and police had taken back entire neighbourhoods of a city at the centre of anti-government demonstrations, with soldiers clearing the streets of barricades after clashes with protesters.

Euro Zone Inflation Drops to Lowest Since 2009

Robin Emmott and Philip Blenkinsop / Reuters

Euro zone inflation hit its lowest level since November 2009 in March, a shock drop that raises expectations the European Central Bank will take radical action to stop the threat of deflation in the currency bloc.

On Our Flashpoint Blog

UAE Takes Lead Role in the Gulf on Climate Action

Andrew Holland

Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber of Abu Dhabi writes an important op-ed in Gulf News about the importance of finding solutions to climate change, titled “The Climate Change Challenge.” The UAE should be a model for other energy producing countries in the region; it is preparing for the threats of climate change, and it is investing heavily in developing solutions.

U.S. Trade in One Map

Brendan Connell

Ever wonder what trade really looks like between the US and its top trading partners? This easy-to-read map gives the basics.

RD-180 – The Jeopardized Russian Backbone of the US Space Program
Adin Dobkin

After Atlantis took its final trip in July of 2011, the US space program has largely depended upon the Atlas V rocket platform to push the boundaries of the final frontier.  The Atlas program now acts as the sole method of launching some of the US’s most important orbital crafts including GPS satellites, the Boeing X-37, and Curiosity, the Mars rover.

New IPCC Report Will Show Climate Change’s Threats to Security

Andrew Holland

Later this week, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN-chartered group of scientists tasked with documenting the course of climate change will release the second part of their fifth assessment report. For the first time in this series, there will explicitly be a section on how climate change impacts security.

ASP Recent Publications

American Security Quarterly V3 Issue 1
American Security Project

We see it in the news nearly every day.  The world is rapidly shifting before our eyes as countries sprout up, struggle to gain a foothold in our international community, and sometimes fall just as quickly.  One equally important trend is the interrelationship between the United States and international players on this stage.  Never before have we seen the level of interdisciplinary security issues that we see today occurring in all corners of the globe.

National Security and Climate Change

Andrew Holland

The American Security Project, as a national security-focused think tank, believes that concern about climate change should be a non-partisan issue. While we know that the argument about solutions will be partisan, both sides should start with a common understanding that climate change poses real threats to national security.

The Ukraine Crisis and the Geopolitics of Energy
Andrew Holland

A briefing note on the Ukraine Crisis and the Geopolitics of Energy – click to find out the facts and way forward the United States could take.

ASP Upcoming Events

The Battle on the Final Frontier: A Discussion of National Security and Space
April 1, 12:30 – 1:30 P.M.

Join ASP as Lieutenant General Norman Seip, 12th Air Force Commander and Adjunct Fellow, August Cole discuss the relationship between these two important policy areas of the 21st century.

University of Tennessee Martin Discussion: Climate Change: Risks for National Security

April 7, 7:30 – 9:00 P.M.

Join Lieutenant General John Castellaw, USMC (Ret.) and Brigadier General John Adams, US Army (Ret.) to discuss how climate change is creating new threats to American’s national security.

Belmont University Discussion: Climate Change: Risks for National Security

April 8, 2:00 – 4:00 P.M.

Join Lieutenant General John Castellaw, USMC (Ret.) and Brigadier General John Adams, US Army (Ret.) to discuss how climate change is creating new threats to American’s national security.

Weather, Climate, and National Security

April 23, 12:30 – 1:30 P.M.

John ASP as Brigadier General Stephen A. Cheney USMC (Ret.) of the American Security Project and Mr. Bryan Norcross of the Weather Channel discuss changes in climate and weather and the relationship they have with our national security.

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