Center for Strategic Communication

Key Reads
Pakistan Orders Save The Children To Leave Country
BBC
Pakistan has ordered the charity Save the Children to leave the country, with an official accusing the NGO of “anti-Pakistan” activities. Police have sealed off their offices in Islamabad and foreign staff given 15 days to leave the country.

 
American Competitiveness

Obama’s Trade Bills Face Tough Battle Against House Democrats
Jonathan Weisman / New York Times

President Obama’s ambitious push to expand his trade negotiating powers faces a final congressional showdown on Friday, but lawmakers in his own party — pressed hard by organized labor, environmental groups and liberal activists — are threatening to bring down the entire package of trade bills.

 

As Debt Deadline Looms, Which Way Will Greece Go?

Matthias Williams and Lefteris Papadimas / Reuters
With no sign of a breakthrough on a cash-for-reform deal after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met European leaders for talks in Brussels, here are three scenarios of how the crisis could unfold.

 

National Security & Strategy
Senate Rejects Measure To Strengthen Cybersecurity

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times
On the heels of a vast breach of the personal information of federal employees, the Senate failed Thursday to advance a cybersecurity measure, the third time in three years that a bipartisan effort to tackle the problem has fallen victim to procedural actions.

 

Libya’s Parliament Rebuffs Pressure To Accept UN Deal

Rami Musa / Associated Press

The spokesman for Libya’s internationally-recognized parliament on Thursday rebuffed pressure by the West and United Nations on lawmakers to accept a peace deal that stipulates power-sharing with rival Islamists.

 

Union Believes Data Breach Was Worse Than Disclosed

Damian Paletta / Wall Street Journal

The American Federation of Government Employees alleged that the breach allowed hackers, believed by some U.S. officials to be based in China, to obtain “all personnel data for every federal employee, every federal retiree, and up to one million former federal employees.” The union said the stolen data include Social Security numbers, and believes that the data weren’t encrypted.

 

Asymmetric Operations

Iran Providing Weapons, Funds To Taliban To Counter ISIS In Afghanistan: Report

Avaneesh Pandey / International Business Times

Iran — a Shiite powerhouse currently engaged in proxy and direct wars with several Sunni states and groups — is now providing weapons, ammunition and funds to the Taliban.

 
Brief Raid By India In Far-Off Myanmar Has Pakistan Fuming

Sanjeev Miglani and Katharine Houreld / Reuters

The United States is considering establishing additional military bases in Iraq to combat the Islamic State, the top American general said on Thursday, a move that would require at least hundreds more American military advisers to help Iraqi forces retake cities lost to the militant Sunni extremist group.

 

Climate Security

EPA Moves Toward Limits On Emissions From U.S. Airlines

Chris Mooney / Washington Post

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency moved Wednesday to start the process of regulating greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s fleet of commercial aircraft, a long-desired objective of environmental groups.

 

The Pain Of Producing A Global Climate Change Deal

Helen Briggs / BBC
After almost two weeks of negotiations in the German city, progress towards a new international climate deal, set for inking in Paris, appears to be moving slowly.

 

Fighting Climate Change—With Cement

Lars Martin Hjorthol / R&D Magazine

Gassnova, Norway’s state-funded effort to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies for commercial use, has identified  Norcem’s cement plant in Brevik and Yara’s ammonia plant in Porsgrunn as the most promising candidates for a full-scale CCS demonstration project in Norway.

 

Energy Security

U.S. Fracking Rules To Face Early Legal Test
Ayesha Rascoe / Reuters
Energy industry groups and states that oppose new U.S. rules for hydraulic fracturing on public lands are headed to court this month to try to block the regulations a day before they are to take effect.

 

Rich Nations In Stalemate Over Coal Subsidy Phase-Out
Barbara Lewis / Reuters
Talks on phasing out a form of coal subsidies ended in stalemate as Japan, the biggest user of the aid, led calls for more time in defiance of this week’s G7 pledge on fossil fuel subsidies, sources said.

 

Nuclear Security

As An Iran Deal Nears, The Lobbying, Pro And Con, Intensifies

Karen DeYoung / Washington Post

Iran’s envoy to the U.N. nuclear agency declined on Thursday to commit to nuclear transparency measures that were part of a preliminary deal Tehran and world powers reached in April, deflecting U.S. demands to implement such provisions.

 

On Our Flashpoint Blog

Rohingya Migration From Myanmar – A Complex, Cross-Border Challenge

Andrew Holland

Too often, we think of problems separated by borders and separated by issue. But the security issues of the 21st century involve complex, overlapping issues with multiple causes, that cross borders.

 

Future Nuclear Technology

Steven Eisen

The current US nuclear reactors are near the end of their lifespans. Fifty reactors built in the 1970’s are still operating and could be retired by 2040 or earlier.

 

Sweden’s Prime Minister Löfven Staunchly Defends TTIP While in DC

American Security Project

On March 31, Sweden’s Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven, spoke at Brookings Institution about how nations could shape globalization, and he made several positive remarks about the possible free trade agreement between the United States and the European Union, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP.

 

Upcoming Events

New York City Event – The American Fusion Project: Scientific Breakthroughs
June 16 @ 12:30pm
As a part of New York’s annual “Energy Week,” the American Security Project, in conjunction with FTI Strategic Communications, is proud to sponsor a lunch on new developments in fusion energy research. It will take place at FTI’s Wall Street Plaza office, 88 Pine Street, 32nd Floor, New York City, NY.

 

ASP Recently Published

Critical Issues Facing Russia and the Former Soviet Union: Governance and Corruption

John Bugnacki / American Security Project

When it comes to Russia and the other post-Soviet states, corruption is the subject of constant academic, policy, and popular debate. According to many, persistent corruption is the major factor undermining post-Soviet states from achieving broad-based political, economic, and social development along liberal-democratic lines. However, most analyses of corruption in Russia and the other post-Soviet states do not actually detail what their corruption is, the way that it endangers their development, or how they can fix it.

 

 

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