International News Coverage
Pakistan, Ebola, Sydney, Egypt, Oil, ISIS
Pakistani Taliban Attack on Peshawar School Leaves 145 Dead
Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud and Salman Masoon | The New York Times
Pakistani Taliban gunmen stormed into a military-run school in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing scores of teachers and schoolchildren and fighting an eight-hour gun battle with the security forces. At least 145 people, more than 100 of them children, were killed.
Takpoima and Freetown | The Economist
Slowly and messily, the struggle against the virus is being won.
Abbott: Why Was Sydney Siege Gunman not on Terror List?
BBC News
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has questioned why the gunman in the Sydney cafe siege was not on the country’s terror watch list.
Egypt’s Cabinet to Endorse Electoral Districts Law for Presidential Approval
Gamal Essam El-Din | Ahram Online
Egypt’s cabinet is expected to endorse the final draft of a new electoral constituencies law in a meeting on Wednesday, thus opening the country’s long-awaited polls to be held as soon as possible.
Russia’s Major Interest Hike Fails to Halt Ruble’s Plummet
Michael Birnbaum | Washington Post
The interest rate hike up to 17 percent came as Russian policymakers had few options to halt its crisis.
Oil Drops below $59 for the First Time since 2009
Alex Lawler | Reuters
Oil fell below $59 a barrel for the first time since May 2009 on Tuesday, extending a six-month selloff as slowing Chinese factory activity and weakening emerging-market currencies added to concerns about demand.
North Korea calls for UN probe into CIA’s “brutal medieval” actions
Anna Fifield | Washington Post
North Korea has asked the U.N. security council to investigate the CIA’s “brutal medieval” treatment of terrorism suspects just as the council agreed to consider a resolution calling for Pyongyang to be brought before an international court for its own human rights violations.
Libya’s rival parliament says open to U.N.-sponsored peace talks
Larry King | Reuters
Libya’s rival parliament is open to U.N.-sponsored talks to end the country’s conflict if the venue of the next round is changed and certain conditions are met, a parliamentary spokesman said on Tuesday.
Islamic State Recruits Broadly, Not Just Fighters
Eric Tucker and Sadie Gurman | Associated Press
ISIS is targeting its sophisticated propaganda beyond male fighters, seeking to entice not only wives but also professionals.
Science & Climate Change
Microbes Discovered by Deepest Marine Drill Analyzed
Rebecca Morelle | BBC
The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) found microbes living 2,400m beneath the seabed off Japan. The tiny, single-celled organisms survive in this harsh environment on a low-calorie diet of hydrocarbon compounds and have a very slow metabolism.
China Climate Negotiator says Lima Deal ‘Balanced’
Jennifer Duggan | The Guardian
Chinese media broadly positive of climate deal but critical of ‘double standards’ on historical emissions.
Peru Says Greenpeace Permanently Damaged Nazca Lines
Robert Kozak | Wall Street Journal
Drones sent up to study the Nazca Lines in Peru show that a protest against global warming by the environment action group Greenpeace permanently damaged an area around the famed geoglyphs, the government said.
Solar sunflower inspired by nature could bring clean energy anywhere
Peter Shadbolt | CNN
Imagine a transportable solar power station that tracks the sun like a sunflower and cools itself by pumping water through its veins just like a plant.
Employment Opportunities
ASP is looking for current or recently graduated students interested in hands-on public policy experience for full- and part-time internships. Interns will support ASP researchers and staff in multiple areas including communications, development, programming and research.
On Our Flashpoint Blog
The Year(s) Ahead in Public Diplomacy
Matthew Wallin
In 2014, the myriad challenges the United States faces in the public diplomacy (PD) field mounted and still continue to grow. Many of them are the result of long-brewing failures of policy, and will persist without an overall strategy to mitigate them.
Disaster Risk and Climate Change: The Frog in the Boiling Pot
Sophia Dahodwala
Join ASP and special guest, Mr. Dante Disparte, for a discussion on disaster risk management in the wake of climate change.
U.S. – Russia Relations – New ISAB Report
BGen Stephen A. Cheney USMC (Ret.)
After over a year’s worth of work by a very distinguished board, you’ll find a report that doesn’t whitewash anything – be it Putin, Ukraine, or nuclear weapons.
GCC starting to create regional security
Fadi Elsalameen
This week saw the Gulf Cooperation Council (the GCC) take major security and political steps together.
Pakistan – Aid, Trade, and Security
Maggie Feldman-Piltch
On December 9th, ASP hosted a roundtable discussion sponsored by FTI Consulting with Admiral William Fallon, USN (Re.), Mr. Daniel Grant, Assistant to the Administrator for Pakistan in the USAID office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs and Mr. Mark Thompson of APCO Worldwide, titled “Pakistan – Aid, Trade, and Security.”
ASP’s Holland Testifies about the Arctic before House Foreign Affairs Committee
Andrew Holland
On Wednesday, December 10, 2014, Andrew Holland, ASP’s Senior Fellow for Energy and Climate, testified before the House Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats. The hearing, “The United States as an Artic Nation: Opportunities in the High North” took place in 2200 Rayburn House Office Building Washington.
Caroline Julia von Wurden
December 9th, the FY-15 Omnibus was posted by the Rules Committee. Listen to ASP’s Andrew Holland explain the details and the importance of fusion to America’s long term energy security.
Hochstein: “Energy plays a critical role in national security”
Caroline Julia von Wurden
Amos J. Hochstein, Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs leading the Bureau of Energy Resources (ENR) at the U.S. Department of State spoke at the American Security Project on Monday about energy policy and the critical role it plays in global and national security.
Upcoming Events
Economic Diplomacy: How Economic Ties Can Strengthen National Security with Amb. Rivkin
January 15 @ 12:30PM – 1:30PM
Location: American Security Project, 1100 New York Ave. NW – 7th Floor – West Tower, Washington DC, 20005
Join ASP on January 15, 2015 as we welcome Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs Charles H. Rivkin for Economic Diplomacy: How Economic Ties Can Strengthen National Security.
Deputy Under Secretary of Defense John Conger: DoD Efforts on Climate Adaptation
January 21 @10:00AM – 11:30AM
Join ASP on Wednesday, January 21 as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense John Conger discusses the Department of Defense’s Climate Adaptation Roadmap, its implications, and how the military is planning for climate change.
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