Center for Strategic Communication

Endless Afghanistan?

Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube / NBC News

US-Afghan agreement would keep troops in place and funds flowing, perhaps indefinitely.

 

Fusion reactor achieves tenfold increase in plasma confinement time

Matthew Francis / Ars Technica

Work is proceeding apace on the next generation of fusion reactors. Researchers at the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) in Hefei, China, achieved a significant improvement in its confinement time and the density of the plasma it held.

 

How to Do Soft Power Right

James R. Holmes / The Diplomat

Counterinsurgency theory underlines the uniqueness of each insurgency, yet also advances an approach that is to apply across time and space. Termed clear-hold-build, the approach involves clearing contested territory through security operations and then holding that territory so as to isolate and defend it from insurgent influence.

 

Lebanon blasts hit Iran’s embassy in Beirut

BBC

At least 22 people have been killed and more than 140 injured in a double suicide bombing outside the Iranian embassy in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

 

6 Greenpeace protesters released on bail in Russia


Thomas Reuters / CBC News

Six jailed foreign Greenpeace activists were granted bail by Russian courts on Tuesday, rulings that lawyers said will allow them to return home pending trial for a protest against Arctic offshore oil drilling.

 

Voting begins in Nepal’s constituent assembly polls

The Times of India

Voting in Nepal began on Tuesday for the election to the constituent assembly that will write the political fortune of the country and complete a peace process stalled for several years since the end of a decade-long civil war.

 

White House fights bid to kill Pentagon propaganda sites

Tom Vanden Brook / USA TODAY

The White House has announced opposition to a Senate measure that would shut down Pentagon propaganda websites in foreign countries aimed at countering “extremist ideology.”

 

Split on Accord on Iran Strains U.S.-Israel Ties

David E. Sanger / The New York Times

To the Israeli government, the preliminary deal with Iran that the Obama administration is trying to seal this week is a giveaway to a government that has spent two decades building a vast nuclear program.

 

On Our Flashpoint Blog

 

A Conversation on P5+1 with Barbara Slavin and Laura Rozen
Joshua Miller

Today, the American Security Project hosted a conversation on the recent round of P5+1 talks with Barbara Slavin, a correspondent for Al-monitor and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, and Laura Rozen, a correspondent for Al-monitor’s Back Channel.

 

ASP in the News

The Future of Nuclear Power – A Conversation with Christine Todd Whitman
Wednesday, November 20th, 2013 0830 – 0930: The political debate on nuclear power has been stuck on the same debates for 30 years, but the technology has rapidly advanced. What is the outlook for the American nuclear industry? Governor Whitman will address these questions, and more.

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