Key Reads

 

Greeks Reject Bailout Terms in Rebuff to European Leaders

Suzanne Daley / New York Times
Greeks delivered a shocking rebuff to Europe’s leaders on Sunday, decisively rejecting a deal offered by the country’s creditors in a historic vote that could redefine Greece’s place in Europe and shake the Continent’s financial stability.
Islamic State Takes Ground from Syrian Kurds After Air Strikes
Sylvia Westall / Reuters
Puerto Rico’s governor, saying he needs to pull the island out of a “death spiral,” has concluded that the commonwealth cannot pay its roughly $72 billion in debts, an admission that will probably have wide-reaching financial repercussions.

Iran Says Nuclear Deal Must Include Lifting of U.N. Arms Embargo

Jay Solomon / Wall Street Journal

Iran is pushing for the United Nations’ arms embargo on the country to be completely lifted, as part of a final agreement to curb its nuclear program, a senior Iranian diplomat said on Monday.

 
American Competitiveness

 

How Do You Say ‘Whatever it Takes’ In Mandarin?

Bloomberg Business

So much for China’s pledge to let markets play a decisive role in the economy. Amid the country’s worst stock slump since 1992, President Xi Jinping’s government is dusting off its Communist Party playbook and unleashing all manner of state interventions to halt the slide in share prices.

Hong Kong Shares Suffer Biggest in 3 Years on Greek Crisis Fears

Reuters
Hong Kong’s benchmark index closed at a three-month low on Monday after the biggest one-day fall in three years, as investors worried that the Greek debt crisis could deepen.

 

National Security & Strategy

 

White House Sprints to Patch Security Flaws

Cory Bennett / The Hill

Putin promised new military graduates plans “to spend 22 trillion rubles (over $400 billion) through 2020 to give the armed forces dozens of navy ships, hundreds of new planes and missiles and thousands of tanks and other weapons.” But his nuclear-armed intercontinental missile program has been delayed, which means the first missile will not be available for several months. There are no specific details regarding why it is taking so long.

Tensions with Russia Could Prompt NATO Strategy Rethink
Adrian Croft / Reuters

NATO is preparing for a long standoff with Russia, reluctantly accepting that the Ukraine conflict has fundamentally transformed Europe’s security landscape and that it may have to abandon hope of a constructive relationship with Moscow.

 

Asymmetric Operations

 

Syrian Forces and Hezbollah Push to Bolster Border Control

Anne Barnard / New York Times

Syrian government troops and Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon pushed into the Syrian border town of Zabadani on Sunday amid heavy airstrikes, continuing an offensive aimed at strengthening their control of routes between Lebanon and Syria.
Yemen Government Raises Prospect of Truce, Air Strikes Kill 30

Sami Aboudi, Mohammed Mukhashaf / Reuters
Yemen’s exiled government said on Monday it expects a deal shortly on a humanitarian ceasefire that would run through the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday later this month, as air strikes by Saudi-led warplanes killed at least 30 people.The United Nations has been pushing for a halt to fighting and air raids that have killed nearly 3,000 people in Yemen since March when a Saudi-led coalition intervened against Houthi forces in a bid to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

 

Climate Security

 

OMB: Factor Climate Change in Budget Requests

Rebecca Shabad / The Hill
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for the first time is asking agencies to submit budget plans next year that consider the effects of climate change on the construction and maintenance of federal facilities. The OMB issues a revised playbook for budgeting each year and is now including this explicit requirement.

 

Energy Security

 

Drought Sends U.S. Water Agency Back to Drawing Board
Coral Davenport / New York Times

Drew Lessard stood on top of Folsom Dam and gazed at the Sierra Nevada, which in late spring usually gushes enough melting snow into the reservoir to provide water for a million people. But the mountains were bare, and the snowpack to date remains the lowest on measured record.

Oil Price Fall to 3-Month Low on China, Iran and Greece Worries

Timothy Puko, Matthew Cowley / Wall Street Journal
Oil prices fell toward three-month lows Monday on worries about China’s stock markets, a new flood of Iranian oil and the debt saga in Greece. Chinese stock markets have plunged in recent weeks, a pessimistic sign for demand in the world’s second-largest oil consumer. A nuclear deal with Iran is also pushing forward, amid signs Iran wants to export even more crude that previously expected. And a “no” vote in Greece’s referendum on Sunday has also pushed investors into the dollar, which typically pushes oil prices down.

 

Nuclear Security

 

Iran Face Hard Choices in Nuclear Talks, Kerry Warns

Michael Gordon, Thomas Erdbrink / New York Times

Secretary of State John Kerry warned Iran on Sunday that hard choices were still needed to seal a landmark nuclear accord, and that the United States was prepared to walk away if a sound agreement could not be reached.

 

Awaiting Iran Deal, Nuclear Sleuths Gather Sophisticated Tools

David Sanger, William Broad / Wall Street Journal

On the outskirts of this graceful city, the Iran Task Force of the International Atomic Energy Agency is preparing to move quickly if American and Iranian negotiators here manage to cut a deal on Iran’s nuclear program in the coming days.

 

On Our Flashpoint Blog

 

Energy: “Cause of and Solution to” the Puerto Rico Debt Crisis?

Andrew Holland

While the eyes of the world have focused this week on how Greece and the European Union will resolve (or kick the can) the latest crisis in the ongoing Greek financial crisis, there is also a debt crisis happening within the United States. On Monday, June 30, the Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla of Puerto Rico announced that the island’s $73 billion in debt “not payable.” His analysis was based off a new report from former IMF Chief Economist Anne Krueger, “Puerto Rico – A Way Forward.”

 

The Weekly Fusion: A Look at Current Advancements in Fusion Energy

William Furlow

The future of fusion is constantly being unfolded in front of our eyes, as every week there is some breakthrough in new technologies and designs in the nuclear fusion sector of energy. Since there is such a wealth of information, I have gathered and consolidated a list of articles geared toward the

Climate Change Adaptation Prize Application Open

Clark Derrington

As ASP has written many times, climate change poses a serious threat to world security. It decreases access to food and water resources, will drive migration, and will act as a “threat multiplier” that could potentially lead to an increase in armed conflict.

 

ASP Recently Published

 

Perspective: Potential Areas of Cooperation Between the U.S. and Cuba

American Security Project

Latin America and the Caribbean are critical regions for U.S. security, but the lack of open communication between the U.S. and Cuba weakens America’s ability to operate in these areas. Open dialogue with Cuba will help the U.S. maintain security, and could also bring potential economic opportunities. Understanding that the isolation of Cuba has not proven to be an effective policy, this paper examines a variety of possibilities for cooperation between the United States and Cuba.

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