Daily News

Iraq helicopter crashes in airborne commando assault on Tikrit
Oliver Holmes and Isabel Coles / Reuters

Iraqi forces launched an airborne assault on rebel-held Tikrit on Thursday with commandos flown into a stadium in helicopters, at least one of which crashed after taking fire from insurgents who have seized northern cities.

Government says climate change will make weather more extreme
Shawn McCarthy / The Globe and Mail

The federal government is warning that Canada faces greater frequency and intensity of extreme weather as a result of climate change, as well as increased risks to human health from pollution and the spread of disease-carrying insects.

Ukraine crisis: Kerry demands Russia action ‘in hours’
BBC News

US Secretary of State John Kerry has called on Russia to show “within hours” it is working to disarm separatist militants in eastern Ukraine.

Iraqi PM welcomes Syria air strike on border crossing
BBC News

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki of Iraq has told the BBC he supports an air strike on Islamist militants at a border crossing between Iraq and Syria.

Why reform is so hard
E.W. Lagos / The Economist

One of Nigeria’s most reform-minded and articulate governors has been ousted in an election in Ekiti, a south-western state, by a populist who was once impeached following charges, albeit unproven, of embezzling public money. The vote was deemed generally free and fair. The result highlights public resistance to political reform.

Energy subsidies, Scrap them
The Economist

For decades, governments from Egypt to Indonesia have subsidised the price of basic fuels. Such programmes often start with noble intentions—to keep down the cost of living for the poor or, in the case of oil-producing countries, to provide a visible example of the benefits of carbon wealth—but they have disastrous consequences, wrecking budgets, distorting economies, harming the environment and, on balance, hurting rather than helping the poor.

On Our Flashpoint Blog

“Silver Buckshot” Event Outlines Different Approach to Climate Change Fight
Colin Taylor

On Tuesday June 24, 2014, the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. hosted “Silver Buckshot: Alternative Pathways Towards Greenhouse Gas Mitigation,” a discussion about using smaller bottom-up initiatives to jump-start real progress on greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction. The three speakers all challenged the effectiveness of singular “silver bullet” solutions to climate change and instead proposed multiple flexible solutions understood as “silver buckshot.”

Russia Revokes Military Force in Ukraine
Victoria Burnside Clapp

Today, in response to a Federation Council recommendation, the Russian senate canceled a resolution which granted President Vladimir Putin the right to use military force in Ukraine.

Global Security and Climate Change: The Threats of Sea-Level Rise
Kendall Strong

Rising sea levels and flooding caused by climate change will have marked consequences on the world’s population, particularly the most impoverished. Consequences will include extensive flooding, leading to the loss of inhabited and arable land. The environmental degradation of already troubled regions will aggravate global conflict as people migrate and their food supplies become threatened. For each of these reasons, climate change is expected to be a major contributor to global conflict.

Liberal and Conservative Economists Debate Best Climate Change Practices
Will Field

On Sunday, June 21, Former Republican Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. wrote an opinion piece in The New York Times, titled “The Coming Climate Crash”, that garnered a lot of national attention for the author’s assured stance on climate change. As a prominent conservative, his argument that the shifting environment is not only a pressing physical concern, but also economic, is an important step for all those concerned with the state of the planet.

The post What We Are Reading … June 26, 2014 appeared first on American Security Project.