ASP: In case you missed it…
27 July 2015
Key Reads
NATO calls emergency meeting after Turkey’s request
Aljazeera
Council comprising diplomats from 28 NATO allies to meet amid Turkish security operations against Kurdish PKK and ISIL.
Chinese shares tumble 8.5% in biggest one-day drop since 2007
Samuel Shen, Pete Sweeney / Reuters
Chinese shares slid more than 8 percent on Monday as an unprecedented government rescue plan to prop up valuations ran out of steam, throwing Beijing’s efforts to stave off a deeper crash into doubt.
American Competitiveness
Germany says Greece must aim for ‘ambitious’ reforms in bailout talks
Michael Nienaber / Reuters
Greece should aim for ambitious reforms in negotiations on its third bailout program, the German finance ministry said on Monday, adding the talks should be conducted thoroughly and without any time pressure.
Investing in Iran after the lifting of sanctions
Amir Paivar / BBC
Just a few days after hosting a historic deal between Iran and the world powers on Tehran’s nuclear programme and lifting international sanctions, Vienna has been the venue for deals of a different kind.
National Security & Strategy
Turkey and U.S. agree on plan to clear ISIS from strip of Syria’s north
Anne Barnard, Michael R Gordon, Eric Schmitt / NYT
Turkey and the United States have agreed in general terms on a plan that envisions American warplanes, Syrian insurgents and Turkish forces working together to sweep Islamic State militants from a 60-mile-long strip of northern Syria along the Turkish border, American and Turkish officials say.
With warning to US, North Korea marks end of Korean War
Eric Talmadge / AP
North Korean officials warned the United States that another war on the Korean Peninsula would leave no Americans alive to sign a surrender document as the country marked Monday’s anniversary of the armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War more than six decades ago.
Asymmetric Operations
Syrian Kurds capture town from Islamic State in north
Suleiman Al-Khalidi / Reuters
The Kurdish YPG militia on Monday captured a town from Islamic State fighters in northern Syria after a month-long offensive against the ultra hardline militants in the area to cut their supply lines, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
UK’s Cameron says ready to bomb militants in Libya and Syria if plot threat seen
Gayatri Suroyo, Andrew Osborn / Reuters
Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday he was ready to order air strikes on Islamist militant targets in Libya and Syria to prevent attacks on the streets of Britain as he stepped up his rhetoric against Islamic State insurgents.
12 are killed in bombing outside hotel in Somalia
Mohammed Ibrahim / NYT
A vehicle packed with explosives detonated outside a landmark Mogadishu hotel long favored by diplomats and top government officials, killing at least 12 people and wounding many more, witnesses and the authorities said on Sunday.
Gunmen attack Afghan wedding party, killing 21, wounding eight
Jessica Donati / Reuters
Armed men opened fire at a wedding ceremony in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 21 guests and wounding eight, provincial officials said on Monday.
Houthis, foes fight on as Yemen ceasefire quickly unravels
Mohammed Ghobari, Mohammed Mukhashef / Reuters
Yemen’s Houthi group carried on fighting across Yemen on Monday despite a ceasefire announcement by its Saudi-led foes, and media controlled by the Iran-allied movement acknowledged that its forces had shelled targets inside Saudi Arabia.
9 killed in India as militants attack police station, bus
Ashok Sharma / AP
Indian forces fought a prolonged gunfight Monday with militants who attacked a moving bus and stormed into a police station in a northern town bordering Pakistan, with at least nine people killed in the violence, officials said.
Climate Security
Alaska’s terrifying wildfire season and what it says about climate change
Chris Mooney / Washington Post
Hundreds of wildfires are continually whipping across this state this summer, leaving in their wake millions of acres of charred trees and blackened earth.
Leaders shorten, tighten draft UN Climate Change draft
Sandy Dechert / Clean Technica
Late on Friday, July 24, Algerian diplomat Ahmed Djoghlaf and US envoy Daniel Reifsnyder, who co-chair the group that will finalize a universal UN climate change agreement in Paris at the end of the year, issued a long-awaited new version of the draft agreement.
Climate change already has affected the health of Maine residents in adverse ways
James Maier / Central Maine
Lancet medical journal report focuses on the threats to human health, hoping for greater reaction than carbon dioxide emissions elicited alone.
Energy Security
General Electric aims big in energy storage after battery step back
Lewis Krauskopf / Reuters
General Electric Co wants to be a “sizable” player in the market for systems that store energy to manage power volatility, a sector the company expects to quadruple to $6 billion by 2020, the head of GE’s energy storage business told Reuters.
LA’s solar energy initiative delays are unnecessary, threaten long-term growth
James Ayre / Clean Technica
The growth of the Los Angeles solar energy sector is being hampered by unnecessary delays in the application and installation stages, potentially interfering with the achievement of its goal to be coal-free by 2025, according to new research commissioned by the Los Angeles Business Council Institute.
Nuclear Security
With nuclear deal done, Iran sets out to reassure gulf arabs
Ahmed Hagagy / Reuters
Iran’s foreign minister called on Sunday for a united front among Middle Eastern nations to fight militancy, in his first regional trip since Iran reached an agreement with world powers on the country’s nuclear program – an agreement that raised fears among its Gulf Arab neighbors.
On Our Flashpoint Blog
The weekly fusion: A look at current advancements in fusion energy
William Furlow / ASP
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.
Dante Disparte’s upcoming remarks for Nairobi’s global entrepreneurship summit
Riza Kumar / ASP
This weekend Dante Disparte will be speaking at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi. The Founder and CEO at Risk Cooperative and chair of the Business Council for American Security, he will speak on the topics of innovation, navigating funding cycles and entrepreneurial hubs.
Spherical fusion reactors as an options
William Furlow / ASP
Tokamak fusion reactor designs have a proven record of being used in international fusion projects such as the ITER project, the Joint European Torus (JET) project, and the closed Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) project at Princeton.
Renewable energy in Puerto Rico: A way forward
Clark Derrington / ASP
Puerto Rico’s economy is laboring under the twin burdens of outsized debt and exorbitant energy costs. The island territory owes private creditors approximately $72 billion, but the inadequate energy infrastructure is just as serious a problem.
Upcoming Events
Understanding the Iran Nuclear Deal
August 4 @ 12:00-1:30pm
Join ASP on Tuesday, August 4, 2015 as we host a panel to discuss the implications of the Iran Nuclear Deal and the possible outcomes of Middle East diplomacy.
ASP Recently Published
Perspective: Energy and geopolitics in the Eastern Mediterranean
ASP
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.
Perspective: Potential areas of cooperation between the U.S. and Cuba
ASP
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.
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