Key Reads
The Iran Deal: Good for U.S. National Security
American Security Project
This morning, the P5+1, the EU, and Iran announced the successful conclusion of the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. The American Security Project supports this agreement. This deal blocks Iran’s pathway to a bomb, provides mechanisms for verifying its cooperation, and improves American national security. However, this deal doesn’t solve the non-nuclear issues with Iran and can’t be expected to.
Iran Nuclear Deal ‘Built on Verification,’ Obama says
David E. Sanger and Michael R. Gordon / The New York Times
Iran and a group of six nations led by the United States said they had reached a historic accord on Tuesday to significantly limit Tehran’s nuclear ability for more than a decade in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions.
Unanimous agreement on deal for Greece
RTE News
Eurozone leaders have reached a deal with Greece to negotiate a third bailout to keep the near-bankrupt country in the eurozone after a whole night of negotiations at an emergency summit.
American Competitiveness
Beijing’s Maneuvers Disenchant Global Investors
Gregor Stuart Hunt / The Wall Street Journal
Global investors are turning away from Chinese stocks after aggressive efforts by Beijing to halt the market’s plunge, which some fund managers say have undermined market-reform plans.
China targeting U.S. chipmaker for massive takeover
CNN Money
Chinese state-owned firm Tsinghua Unigroup is preparing a $23 billion bid for U.S. chipmaker Micron, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. If completed, the deal would be the biggest-ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. firm.
National Security & Strategy
Obama: Iran deal limits chance of war in the Middle East
Christi Parsons / LA Times
President Obama sought Tuesday to sell the deal reached overnight to limit Iran’s nuclear program, promising that it will limit the chance of war in the Middle East and cut off “every pathway” for Iran to build a nuclear weapon.
Asymmetric Operations
Tunisia scrambles to seal border amid growing ISIS threat
Tim Lister / CNN
The desert town of Remada in southern Tunisia has suddenly lost 33 of its citizens. They vanished overnight last week and are thought to have crossed the nearby border into Libya, amid a crackdown by the Tunisian authorities against suspected jihadist cells.
Iraq Begins Military Operation to Drive ISIS From Anbar Province
Omar Al-Jawoshy and Anne Barnard / The New York Times
The Iraqi government declared on Monday that it was beginning a major military operation to retake the western province of Anbar from the Islamic State, which occupies much of the area including its major cities, Ramadi and Falluja.
Climate Security
Climate change threat must be taken as seriously as nuclear war- UK minister
Damian Carrington / The Guardian
The threat of climate change needs to be assessed in the same comprehensive way as nuclear weapons proliferation, according to a UK foreign minister. Baroness Joyce Anelay, minister of state at the Commonwealth and Foreign Office, said the indirect impacts of global warming, such as deteriorating international security, could be far greater than the direct effects, such as flooding. She issued the warning in a foreword to a new report on the risks of climate change led by the UK’s climate change envoy, Prof Sir David King.
Global Warming Report Says Climate Change Could Fuel Terrorism And Migration
Rina Marie Doctor / Tech Times
A team of international climate scientists, financial consultants, energy analysts and military and security experts collaborated to develop a risk assessment that aims to present the effects of climate change across different sectors and thus encourage leaders to think about the extent of priority that their respective fields should give to this environmental issue. According to the independent assessment, global warming, more than posing threats to the environment, may also fuel safety and social issues such as terrorism and migration.
Energy Security
Crude drops on Iran deal, hitting oil stocks and currencies
Nigel Stephenson / Reuters
Oil prices dropped, pushing commodity-linked shares and currencies lower on Tuesday, after Iran and six world powers reached a historic nuclear deal expected to increase the supply of Iranian crude on world markets.
Natural Gas Surpasses Coal as Biggest US Electricity Source
Tom Murphy / ABC News
Natural gas overtook coal as the top source of U.S. electric power generation for the first time ever earlier this spring, a milestone that has been in the making for years as the price of gas slides and new regulations make coal more risky for power generators.
Nuclear Security
Iran Nuclear Deal: Russia Hails ‘Positive Step’ for Middle East
Maria Stromova and Alastair Jamieson / NBC News
Russia hailed Tuesday’s nuclear deal with Iran as a “positive step” that would bring greater stability to the Middle East, and promised it would do “everything in its power” to enforce the agreement.
Germany’s Angela Merkel calls for speedy implementation of Iran deal
Reuters / The Economic Times
German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed the nuclear deal signed between Iran and six world powers as “an important success” and said she hoped the agreement could be implemented quickly.
On Our Flashpoint Blog
Dante Disparte on the Risk of Asset-less Economies
Mahmood Abu-Rubieh
Dante Disparte, Chairperson of ASP’s Business Council for American Security, was recently featured on Linkedin’sPulse. Disparte focused on the economic risk facing of asset-less economies, namely Uber and Airbnb.
The Future of Nuclear Technology
Steven Eisen
Climate change is one of the leading global issues of this century. As more states and organizations recognize the dangers of climate change, it is clear something must be done. Despite significant growth in the renewable energy sector, the US still gets two thirds of its electricity from carbon-emitting sources. The largest share of carbon-free electricity production in the United States comes from nuclear power. In fact, it produces more electricity than all other renewable sources combined.
Geothermal Power: The Forgotten Renewable
Steven Eisen
When renewable energy is discussed most people think of solar and wind power as the two prime examples; geothermal energy is overlooked as a carbon-free power source. Unlike, solar and wind, geothermal power has been providing round-the-clock electricity in the United States for over fifty years. The first industrial geothermal plant in the US was built in 1960 in The Geysers, California.
The DHS Response to Climate Change
Clark Derrington
On July 8th, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency of the House Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing about the Department of Homeland Security’s response to the growing threat of climate change. Subcommittee Chairman Scott Perry (R-PA) called the hearing to examine DHS’s “misplaced focus” on climate change, and asked questions of two panels of witnesses.
ASP Recently Published
Perspective- Energy and Geopolitics in the Eastern Mediterranean
American Security Project
Since 2009, there have been a succession of substantial natural gas finds in the Levantine Basin, under the Mediterranean Sea between Israel and Cyprus. How to regulate, tax, and export the gas continues to be controversial in Israeli politics. However, the strategic benefits of using energy resources to more closely tie Israel with its long-hostile neighbors are too compelling to ignore. This report analyzes the risks and opportunities involved in such an endeavor.
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