Amplified Greenhouse Effect Shifts North’s Growing Seasons
NASA
Vegetation growth at Earth’s northern latitudes increasingly resembles lusher latitudes to the south, according to a NASA-funded study based on a 30-year record of land surface and newly improved satellite data sets.
Climate Change is the Biggest Threat in the Pacific, Says Top U.S. Admiral
Spencer Ackerman/ Wired
North Korea just annulled the 1953 armistice ending its war with South Korea. China and Japan are locked in a dispute over an island chain. But the greatest long-term threat to the peace of East Asia and Pacific Ocean — the part of the world at the heart of the Obama administration’s aspirational defense strategy — is climate change, according to the admiral in charge of U.S. military operations there.
Will Secretary Moniz Put Energy Back Into The Department of Energy?
James Conca/ Forbes
President Barack Obama announced Monday that he will nominate Dr. Ernest Moniz to head the U.S. Department of Energy as Secretary. This was a wise move.
Analysis: Renewables Turn Utilities into Dinosaurs of the Energy World
Geert de Clercq/ Reuters
Every new solar panel installed on European rooftops chips away at power utilities’ centralized production model. Unless they reinvent themselves soon, these giants risk becoming the dinosaurs of the energy market.
This Reactor Can Withstand Temperatures Up to 20 Times Hotter than the Sun
Charlie Foster/ Wired
An 18-metre-tall machine is attempting to harness nuclear fusion, the reaction that powers the Sun, to create electricity.
S. Korea, US Begin Drills as N. Korea Threatens War
Hyung-Jin Kim and Foster Klug/ Miami Herald
North Korean state media said Monday that Pyongyang had carried through with a threat to cancel the 60-year-old armistice that ended the Korean War, as it and South Korea staged dueling war games amid threatening rhetoric that has risen to the highest level since North Korea rained artillery shells on a South Korean island in 2010.
In U.S., 56% Favor U.S.-Russian Nuclear Arms Reductions
Jeffrey M. Jones/ GALLUP Politics
Americans, by 56% to 38%, support a reduction in U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals. Democrats are most inclined to support it — saying they would vote for such a law if they could — while Republicans are about evenly divided in their views.
The New York Times
If there is any hope for a peaceful resolution of the nuclear dispute with Iran, President Obama needs Congress to support negotiations. But negotiations and compromise are largely anathema in Washington, with many lawmakers insisting that any deal with Iran would be unacceptable — a stance that would make military action by Israel and the United States far more likely.
2 US Service Members Killed at Special Operations Base in Afghanistan
Jamieson Lesko and Jim Miklaszewski/ NBC News
Two U.S. service members were killed and at least eight others were injured Monday in a possible insider attack at a special forces site in Afghanistan, U.S. and Afghan officials said.
West Training Syrian Rebels in Jordan
Julian Borger and Nick Hopkins/ The Guardian
Western training of Syrian rebels is under way in Jordan in an effort to strengthen secular elements in the opposition as a bulwark against Islamic extremism, and to begin building security forces to maintain order in the event of Bashar al-Assad’s fall.
Public Diplomacy and “Popular Diplomacy”
Phillip Seib/ The Huffington Post
As public diplomacy becomes more central in the foreign policy of the United States and other nations, the importance of education about international affairs should be recognized.
ASP Recently Published
The Geopolitical Implications of U.S. Natural Gas Exports
Nick Cunningham
This paper examines the geopolitical benefits of removing restrictions on LNG exports to two key regions – Europe and Asia.
On Our Flashpoint Blog
Milestone Achievement for the F-35
Stephen A. Cheney
The F-35 Lightening II resumed operational flights last week. This is a big achievement for the Joint Strike Fighter program, and particularly for the Marines, whose version of the JSF, the F35B, returned after a temporary grounding late last month.
Measuring Effect—Are We Measuring Right?
Paul Hamill
Mark Blumenthal had a long and very interesting analysis on the issues surrounding the Gallop polling of the last U.S. Presidential Election for Huffington Post.
Veteran Unemployment and American Competitiveness
August Cole
This week the Dow Jones Industrial Average set a record high, a historic feat sure to kindle optimism about the U.S. economy at what is otherwise a gloomy moment.
