Key Reads
Obama urges climate deal as U.N. summit opens in tense Paris
Kim Hjelmgaard / USA Today
President Obama urged his fellow world leaders on Monday to reach a landmark deal to curb global warming before it dooms the planet.
At NATO, Turkey remains defiant over Russian jet
Robin Emmott / Reuters
Turkey’s prime minister dismissed on Monday any suggestion Ankara should apologize for downing a Russian warplane in its airspace last week, after winning strong NATO support for the right to defend itself.
Declaring ‘new beginning,’ EU and Turkey seal migrant deal
Francesco Guarascio, Robin Emmott / Reuters
Turkey promised to help stem the flow of migrants to Europe in return for cash, visas and renewed talks on joining the EU in a deal struck on Sunday that the Turkish prime minister called a “new beginning” for the uneasy neighbors.
American Competitiveness
Chinese Pull Back From U.S. Property Investments
Laura Kusisto, Alyssa Abkowitz / The Wall Street Journal
In recent weeks, some Chinese buyers have started to pull back, scared off by China’s stock-market selloff, slowing economic growth, currency devaluation and tightened restrictions on capital outflows. On Friday, China’s benchmark stock index fell by 5.5%, its biggest daily slide since August, as Beijing authorities stepped up a crackdown on the securities industry.
Fed approves curb to future ‘too big to fail’ lending
Howard Schneider, Meredith Mazzilli, Andrea Ricci / Reuters
The Federal Reserve Board on Monday approved a proposal to curb its emergency lending powers, a change demanded by Congress after the central bank’s controversial decision to aid AIG (AIG.N), Citigroup (C.N) and others in 2008.
China’s yuan set for IMF reserve status
BBC
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to announce on Monday that China’s currency, the yuan, will join the fund’s group of international basket of reserve currencies.
National Security Strategy
Pakistani, Afghan leaders discuss mending ties, reviving Taliban talks
Kay Johnson / Reuters
The leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan met in Paris on Monday to discuss ways to resurrect peace talks with Taliban insurgents and to improve relations between the neighbors that soured earlier in the year after a string of militant attacks in Kabul.
Israel says Russian jet breached airspace without incident
Reuters
A Russian jet recently penetrated Israeli airspace but was not shot down thanks to an open communication system between the two countries, Israel’s defense minister said Sunday as tensions continued to flare between Ankara and Moscow after Turkish troops downed a Russian warplane.
Asymmetric Operations
Eli Berman, Jacob N. Shapiro / Politico
Taken together, this evidence suggests to us that ISIL is most usefully thought of as a state. Not a state with recognized borders, but an entity that needs to control territory in order to sustain its message, validate its propaganda and maintain much of its capacity. And if it’s is a state, then the good news is that it’s an extremely weak one: geographically vulnerable, with an unsustainable resource base and a grave problem with its population. As we decide how to confront it, there are three crucial points to understand.
Kurdish fighters say US special forces have been fighting Isis for months
Fazel Hawramy, Shalaw Mohammad, David Smith / The Guardian
The footage, Peshawa says, is evidence that US special forces have been waging a covert war on the frontline in Iraq for months. Such a claim could alter the feverish debate over whether Barack Obama should move farther and faster against Isis in the wake of the Paris attacks.
Bruce Cheadle / The Canadian Press
French President Francois Hollande appeared to give his blessing to Canada’s proposed withdrawal of its fighter jets from the bombing campaign against Islamic militants after meeting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday at the Elysee Palace.
U.S. senators call for 20,000 troops in Syria and Iraq
Stephen Kalin / Reuters
Two senior U.S. senators called on Sunday for Washington to nearly triple military force levels in Iraq to 10,000 and send an equal number of troops to Syria as part of a multinational ground force to counter Islamic State in both countries.
Energy Security
New ‘invisible’ nano-wires hide from the sun for increased solar efficiency
Peter Dockrill / ScienceAlert
Researchers in the US have figured out how to make solar cells absorb significantly more sunlight than they previously could by making the tiny wires that lie across the top of solar cells effectively invisible.
Major powers pledge $20bn for green energy research
Suzanne Goldenberg, Fiona Harvey, John Vidal / The Guardian
The US and 18 other countries have pledged to double funds for clean energy research to a total of $20bn over five years, boosting a parallel initiative by Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg and increasing the prospects for successful agreement at the Paris climate negotiations that start on Monday.
Nuclear Security
France wants precise answers in IAEA Iran nuclear report
John Irish, Allison Williams / Reuters
The U.N. nuclear watchdog must provide all the information it possesses with the “necessary detail” on whether Iran has in the past carried out work related to nuclear weapons, France’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
On Our Flashpoint Blog
The Weekly Fusion: A Look at Current Advancements in Fusion Energy
Ricky Gandhi
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.
Sam Hickey
On Monday, November 16th, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) hosted the Global Security Forum 2015 in Washington, DC. The event featured panels of government officials, think tank fellows, and business professionals to discuss the major national security issues facing the nation and the possible solutions to these bedeviling quandaries.
Lt. General Norman Seip, USAF (Ret.) Joins ASP Board of Directors
Maggie Feldman-Piltch
On November 17th, American Security Project’s Board of Directors unanimously confirmed Lieutenant General Norman “Norm” Seip, USAF (Ret.) as its newest member. Lt. General Seip has been an active member of ASP’s Consensus for American Security and regular participant on the National Security and Climate Change Tour in recent years.
Unlocking the Secrets of Cyber Security Hazards
Maggie Feldman-Piltch
Security products are like crack to security professionals—they just cannot get enough. These products appear to be the panacea practitioners are seeking, but they often are not what they seem. They do not always solve problems, and they leave security experts continually looking for yet more new products, solutions and techniques for managing cyber risk.
Maggie Feldman-Piltch
On Thursday, November 19th American Security Project hosted “TPP: Implications of the Trans-Pacific Partnership for Global and Regional Stability.” The conversation included Ambassador Carl Worker, Charge d’Affaires at the New Zealand Embassy; BGen. Stephen A. Cheney, USMC (Ret), CEO of American Security Project; Minister Kanji Yamanouchi is Minister for Economic Affairs, Embassy of Japan; and Dr. Rob Shapiro, CEO of Sonecon.
Upcoming Events
Department of Defense Action on Climate Change
December 11 @ 12:00pm – 1:30pm
On Friday, December 11, ASP will host Maureen Sullivan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Environment, Safety & Occupational Health. Two members of ASP’s Board of Directors, Vice Admiral Lee Gunn, USN (Ret.) and BGen Stephen Cheney, USMC (Ret.) will also report on what they have learned as a part of ASP’s national climate security tour, and how important the DoD’s efforts on climate change are for national climate preparedness.
ASP Recently Published
Perspective – Alleviating the Resource Curse
American Security Project
The goal is to increase transparency and provide the public with greater access to information related to the payments that U.S.-listed companies make to foreign governments to extract oil, gas, and mineral resources. The rulemaking has been delayed by lawsuits and SEC inaction. But now the SEC has an opportunity to put in place a policy for disclosure that is accessible and effective.
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