Key Reads
American Security Project Launches Business Council for American Security
Maggie Feldman-Piltch / American Security Project
American Security Project announces the launch of The Business Council for American Security (BCAS). The Council will be a permanent membership group supporting ASP.
NATO backs Turkey on Islamic State, some urge peace with Kurds
Robin Emmott and Nick Tattersall / Reuters
NATO gave Turkey its full political support in fighting militants in Syria and Iraq at an emergency meeting on Tuesday but several nations urged Ankara not to undermine the Kurdish peace process by using excessive military force.
Bomb kills two policemen in worst Bahrain bombing in months
Reuters / Daily Mail
A bomb killed two policemen and wounded six in the deadliest such attack in Bahrain in months, and state media said the explosives resembled some seized at the weekend that authorities say were smuggled in from Iran.
American Competitiveness
Volkswagen surpasses Toyota as world’s largest automaker in first half of 2015
Nathan Borney / USA Today
Volkswagen surpassed Toyota as the world’s largest automaker in the first half of 2015, fulfilling a long-held goal, but the achievement came at a cost.
U.S. Stocks Follow Global Markets Lower
Dan Strumpf and Tommy Stubbington / The Wall Street Journal
As China’s stock market plunged Monday, U.S. investors grappled with one big question: What does it mean for the rest of the world? For now, the troubles in China have seemed relatively contained, although many investors are growing uneasy. While the Shanghai Composite Index fell 8.5% Monday, stock markets in Europe slid about 2%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell less than 1%.
National Security & Strategy
US, Turkey agree on outlines of plan for Islamic State-free zone in northern Syria
Zeina Karam and Julie Pace / U.S. News & World Report
Turkey and the United States have agreed on the outlines of a plan to rout the Islamic State group from a strip of Syrian territory along the Turkish border — a plan that opens the possibility of a safe haven for tens of thousands of displaced Syrians but one that also sets up a potential conflict with U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces in the area.
Asymmetric Operations
Turkey v Islamic State v the Kurds: What’s going on?
Neil Arun / BBC News
Turkey has opened up a new front in the fight against Islamic State (IS) militants, by bombing their positions in Syria and permitting US jets to do the same from its territory.
Nigeria Attacks on Freed Area Kill 29 as Displaced Return
Michael Olukayode and Yinka Ibukun / Bloomberg
At least 29 people were killed by suspected Islamist insurgents in northeastern Nigeria on Monday, highlighting the continuing danger in areas the military said it had secured.
Taliban Make Gains Across 3 Provinces in Afghanistan
Joseph Goldstein / The New York Times
The Taliban have seized territory across three provinces in northern Afghanistan in recent days, as the government in Kabul has struggled to reinforce isolated outposts amid the insurgent offensive.
Climate Security
French climate ambassador concerned over slow progress of draft Paris deal
Adam Vaughan / The Guardian
France’s top climate ambassador has said she is very concerned at the slow rate of progress on a negotiating text that will form the basis of a new international deal on global warming in Paris later this year.
Apple, Goldman Among Firms in $140 Billion Climate Pledge
Justin Sink / Bloomberg
Executives from 13 major U.S. corporations announced at least $140 billion in new investments to decrease their carbon footprints as part of a White House initiative to recruit private commitments ahead of a United Nations climate-change summit later this year in Paris.
Energy Security
Oil Prices Poised for Six-Month Lows
Nicole Friedman / The Wall Street Journal
The global oil benchmark was on track Tuesday to settle at its lowest price since January on concerns about the persistent global glut of crude.
A milestone for wind energy: Work underway on first offshore platforms in U.S. waters
Joby Warrick / The Washington Post
With the lowering of giant steel legs to the sea bottom off Rhode Island, construction has officially begun on the country’s first offshore wind farm, starting what U.S. officials hope will be a race to harness a vast energy resource capable of powering millions of homes along the East Coast.
Nuclear Security
North Korea Rules Out Nuclear Deal, Says Weapons ‘Not a Plaything’
Ed Flanagan / NBC News
North Korea would never enter Iran-style talks over ending its nuclear weapons program, its ambassador to China said Tuesday, declaring its arsenal “not a plaything” to be haggled over.
EU’s Mogherini arrives in Iran to discuss implementation of nuclear deal
Reuters / Haaretz
Iran and the European Union have agreed to start talks on issues including confronting terrorism, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told a news conference with the EU’s chief diplomat in Tehran on Tuesday.
On Our Flashpoint Blog
The Weekly Fusion: A Look at Current Advancements in Fusion Energy
William Furlow
The future of fusion is constantly being unfolded in front of our eyes, as every week there is some breakthrough in new technologies and designs in the nuclear fusion sector of energy. Since there is such a wealth of information, I have gathered and consolidated a list of articles geared toward the advancement of making fusion energy a reality, from within the past week.
Dante Disparte’s Upcoming Remarks for Nairobi’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit
Riza Kumar
This weekend Dante Disparte will be speaking at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi. The Founder and CEO at Risk Cooperative and chair of the Business Council for American Security, he will speak on the topics of innovation, navigating funding cycles and entrepreneurial hubs.
Spherical Fusion Reactors as an Option
William Furlow
Tokamak fusion reactor designs have a proven record of being used in international fusion projects such as the ITER project, the Joint European Torus (JET) project, and the closed Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) project at Princeton. Currently the standard tokamak design has been the default for fusion energy, but through prior research, a new prototype for fusion energy has been purposed. This prototype is known as spherical fusion reactors and are more compact, cheaper, require less magnetism, and can potentially lead the way for fusion energy.
Renewable Energy in Puerto Rico: A Way Forward
Clark Derrington
Puerto Rico’s economy is laboring under the twin burdens of outsized debt and exorbitant energy costs. The island territory owes private creditors approximately $72 billion, but the inadequate energy infrastructure is just as serious a problem. The cost of living in Puerto Rico is naturally higher than the US national average, and no category is as dangerously lopsided as energy and electricity.
ASP Recently Published
Perspective— Energy and Geopolitics in the Eastern Mediterranean
American Security Project
Since 2009, there have been a succession of substantial natural gas finds in the Levantine Basin, under the Mediterranean Sea between Israel and Cyprus. How to regulate, tax, and export the gas continues to be controversial in Israeli politics. However, the strategic benefits of using energy resources to more closely tie Israel with its long-hostile neighbors are too compelling to ignore. This report analyzes the risks and opportunities involved in such an endeavor.
Perspective— Potential Areas of Cooperation Between the U.S. and Cuba
American Security Project
Latin America and the Caribbean are critical regions for U.S. security, but the lack of open communication between the U.S. and Cuba weakens America’s ability to operate in these areas. Open dialogue with Cuba will help the U.S. maintain security, and could also bring potential economic opportunities. Understanding that the isolation of Cuba has not proven to be an effective policy, this paper examines a variety of possibilities for cooperation between the United States and Cuba.
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