ASP: In case you missed it ….
1 April 2013
South Korea Gives Military Leeway to Answer North
Choe Sang-Hun/NY Times
President Park Geun-hye of South Korea ordered the country’s military on Monday to deliver a strong and immediate response to any North Korean provocation, the latest turn in a war of words that has become a test of resolve for the relatively unproven leaders in both the North and South.
Vilsack, Branstad rally for biofuel
Dan Piller/Des Moines Register
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, and incumbent Gov. Terry Branstad both used a ceremony at DuPont Pioneer’s research center in Johnston on Friday to get in licks in favor of the federal mandate that at least 10 percent of gasoline used in U.S. motor cars be ethanol.
Social media a powerful diplomatic tool, Canadian diplomatic papers reveal
Rick Westhead/The Star
The Canadian ambassador’s post on Chinese social media about his modest Toyota Camry triggered local debate about Chinese bureaucrats’ privileges and government spending.
US Energy Independence: Tracking America’s Energy Bill
Moran Zhang/International Business Times
America’s dependence on foreign oil has gone down every single year since 2007. In 2010, the U.S. imported less than 50 percent of the oil the country consumed — the first time that’s happened in 13 years — and the trend continued in 2011.
Climate Change is Here, Ready or Not. So What Now?
Eugene Linden/The Daily Beast
To paraphrase Hemingway, climate change first comes gradually and then all at once. Now that the negative impacts of changing climate have become undeniable, there is also a dawning realization that—at this point—climate change is unstoppable.
BRIC’s Rising Energy Superpower – Brazil
John Daly/Oil Price
The BRIC (Brazil, the Russian Federation, India and China) is an interesting political and economic conglomeration. In terms of a rising energy profile, the BRIC darling is currently Brazil.
John Hudson/Foreign Policy
Today, North Korea unveiled its “U.S. mainland strike plan” in a map showing Hawaii, Washington, D.C., Austin, Texas and Los Angeles, California as primary targets. The map appeared in a photograph of an “emergency meeting” between Kim Jong Un and his top military advisors, and was broadcast by the country’s propaganda arm KCNA.
Peace restored in stronghold of Kenya’s election loser Odinga
Hezron Ochiel/Reuters
Calm returned to the western Kenyan stronghold of defeated presidential candidate Raila Odinga on Monday after two days of running battles with police following the Supreme Court’s confirmation of his rival Uhuru Kenyatta as president-elect.
Kosovo and Serbia near accord to end ethnic partition
Matt Robinson and Fatos Bytyci/Reuters
It’s a dangerous job being a municipal clerk in the Kosovan town of Mitrovica, where the Ibar river forms a natural barrier between Serbs and Albanians.
Bomb-laden truck kills 7 at Iraqi police station
Qassim Abdul-Zahra/AP
A suicide bomber drove a fuel-laden truck into a police station in central Iraq on Monday, killing seven policemen, officials said.
On Our Flashpoint Blog
Immigration, American Competitiveness and National Security
August Cole
An immigration deal would mostly help people working hourly-wage type positions illegally, yet the visa quota system for the world’s highly skilled workers is an urgent issue for improving American competitiveness
A Clear and Present Danger: The Security Council and Climate Change
Andrew Holland and Xander Vagg
Last month the United Nations Security Council met to discuss the merits of taking on climate change as a global security threat. Here’s why it should.
Our Reports
Read our latest collection of our writings in this edition of American Security Quarterly – with a special lead of American Competitiveness.
The Global Security Defense Index on Climate Change: Preliminary Results
The Index analyzes how governments around the world and their militaries plan for and anticipate the strategic threats of climate change.
Upcoming Events
A look at all of ASP’s April events.
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
