Key Reads
American Security Project Launches Business Council for American Security
Maggie Feldman-Piltch / American Security Project
American Security Project announces the launch of The Business Council for American Security (BCAS). The Council will be a permanent membership group supporting ASP.
Suicide Attacks in Anbar Kill at Least 18 Iraqi Troops
The Associated Press / The New York Times
Iraqi officials say back-to-back suicide attacks targeting security forces near the Islamic State-held city of Ramadi have killed at least 12 troops.
Kerry warns Congress scrapping Iran deal would mean path to nuclear weapon
Patricia Zengerle and Doina Chiacu / Reuters
Secretary of State John Kerry intensified efforts on Tuesday to beat back criticism of the Iran nuclear deal and convince U.S. lawmakers that rejecting it would give Tehran a fast track to a weapon and access to billions of dollars from collapsed sanctions.
Calais: man killed as migrants make 1,500 attempts to enter Eurotunnel site
Jessica Elgot and Patrick Wintour / The Guardian
One person has been found dead as migrants trying to reach the UK made at least 1,500 attempts to enter the Eurotunnel terminal at the French port town of Calais, police have said.
American Competitiveness
Tsipras Says Greece Won ‘Crucial’ Commitment for Debt Relief
Nikos Chrysoloras and Eleni Chrepa / Bloomberg Business
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras expressed confidence that Greece’s creditors will grant debt relief and blamed their intractability for worsening the country’s economic plight.
Stocks Stay Higher After Fed Statement
Saumya Vaishampayan and Josie Cox / The Wall Street Journal
Global stock markets rose Wednesday, but investors remained cautious ahead of a policy statement from the Federal Reserve that could offer clues on the path of U.S. interest rates. The gains in U.S. and European stocks followed a rebound in Chinese shares after a three-day slump that knocked 11% off the value of China’s main stock index.
National Security & Strategy
Saudi-led warplanes bomb Houthi bastion in north Yemen
Reuters
Saudi-led warplanes bombed targets in Yemen’s northerly Saada province, a bastion of Iranian-allied Houthi forces, local officials said on Wednesday, and a U.N. official accused both sides in the conflict of failing to respect international law.
Dreaded militant killed in Pakistan
Mohsin Ali / Gulf News
The leader of the dreaded Pakistani sectarian militant group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ), Malek Ishaq, was killed along with his two sons in a shoot-out in predawn hours on Wednesday, counter-terrorism officials said.
Asymmetric Operations
Taliban Leader Mullah Omar Is Dead, Afghan Spy Agency Says
Margherita Stancati / The Wall Street Journal
Mullah Mohammad Omar, who went from being an obscure cleric to one of the world’s most wanted fugitives as the spiritual leader of the Taliban, is dead, according to Afghanistan’s spy agency and two people close to the insurgent group.
Britain is Losing Against ISIS Recruitment Tactics
Katrin Bennhold / The New York Times
The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, plays on that ambiguity, appealing to not just foreign fighters but also women, families, teachers and doctors. Its recruitment videos have featured surgeons with stethoscopes around their necks. Schoolchildren reportedly get “I.S.”-branded school bags.
Climate Security
Later Deadline Expected in Obama’s Climate Plan
Coral Davenport / The New York Times
The final version of President Obama’s signature climate change policy is expected to extend an earlier timeline for states to significantly cut planet-warming pollution from power plants, according to people familiar with the plan.
Climate Change Will Cause Increased Flooding in Coastal Cities
Matthew Francis / Forbes
A new paper by prominent climate scientist James Hansen and colleagues says even a moderate increase in global temperatures could lead to much greater sea level rise than the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report predicts.
Energy Security
Oil prices have plunged nearly 20% this month
Matt Egan / CNN
China’s crashing stock market and the meltdown in the metals market may be getting all the attention lately, but crude oil is quietly crumbling once again. Oil has plunged nearly 20% this month alone and it briefly dipped below $47 a barrel on Tuesday. That leaves it flirting with the March lows, which was the weakest price since 2009.
Nuclear Security
Iran Nuclear Deal Gets Support of House Israel Backer, Sander Levin
Jennifer Steinhauer / The New York Times
Representative Sander M. Levin, Democrat of Michigan and the longest-serving Jewish member now in Congress, said Tuesday that he would support the Iran nuclear accord, lending a hefty voice of approval in a chamber deeply skeptical of the deal.
French foreign minister arrives in Tehran for talks
Sam Wilkin / Reuters
France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius arrived in Tehran for a one-day visit on Wednesday and was due to meet President Hassan Rouhani and several ministers, Iran’s state news agency IRNA said.
On Our Flashpoint Blog
The Iran Nuclear Deal and the Middle East
Mahmood Abu-Rubieh
After the signing of the historic nuclear deal between the P5+1 nations and Iran, regional actors denounced the deal for fear it spelled a new regional balance of power, and added to the Islamic Republic’s regional influence.
BCAS Chairperson Dante Disparte Featured on 25 GES 2015 Attendees You Must Know
Maggie Feldman-Piltch
This weekend, Business Council for American Security Chairperson Dante Disparte spoke on entrepreneurship, innovation and fund raising as a guest of the White House at the GES 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya.
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 advancement of making fusion energy a reality, from within the past week.
Dante Disparte’s Upcoming Remarks for Nairobi’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit
Riza Kumar
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 Option
William Furlow
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. Currently the standard tokamak design has been the default for fusion energy, but through prior research, a new prototype for fusion energy has been purposed. This prototype is known as spherical fusion reactors and are more compact, cheaper, require less magnetism, and can potentially lead the way for fusion energy.
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.
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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