Nautilus Peace and Security – 20 November

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"Nautilus Peace and Security – 20 November", NAPSNet Weekly Report, November 20, 2014, https://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-weekly/nautilus-peace-and-security-20-november/


cmdctr1DETERRENCE: It’s Time to Talk About Nukes Again, Robert Spalding, Adam Lowther, Real Clear Defense, October 23, 2014

Conventional warfare in the Pacific is directed by PACOM Commander. Nuclear war is directed by STRATCOM Commander. One commander is fighting a conventional war, while the other is trying to prevent a nuclear war. The logical challenge such a command and control structure presents is obvious as it creates new problems not experienced in the Cold War.


rsgfDPRK: N.K. Special Envoy meets with Putin. Yonhap News Agency. (19 November 2014).

Expect future negotiations with North Korea to be extremely difficult for the foreseeable future. North Korea is trying to make a new strategic partner in the old fashioned pendulum method of swinging between the US, China and Russia.  The United Nations adopted a European Union and Japanese sponsored non-binding resolution recommending North Korea be referred to the International Criminal Court.  The resolution must first to go the United Nations Security Council, but will never make it out as both China and Russia would likely use their veto power.


imagesGOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: China uses APEC Summit as Platform to boost Leadership Role in Region, Asahi Shimbun (11 November 2014)

China is countering the US’s Asia Pivot with moves of its own, expanding trade agreements with neighbors and looking to establish its own regional free trade pact, following plans to launch a regional development bank in China a few months ago. Ties between China and the ROK seem to be growing, with the ROK President pledging support for the China-led regional free trade agreement.


OD-BD560B_ULTIM_GS_20140828161024ENERGY SECURITY: Cleaner, more efficient Cookstoves should be on front burner of Women’s needs in Developing Countries, Opinion column ‘She the People’, Diana Reese, Washington Post (24 September 2014)

“Cleaner, more efficient cookstoves” has become the rallying cry of women – and men – who generally do not have to cook or spend much less time cooking because of more convenient fuels and partially or completely pre-cooked ingredients or meals. What real cooks seem to aspire to is  spend less human energy as well as fuels for stoves and appliances. To some, saving trees and the planet comes before saving people.


USA_relief imageCLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Climate Change in the Places We Live: What the European Heat Wave of 2003 Reveals about Climate Change in Cities, Brian Stone, Jr., SUSTAIN: A Journal of Environmental and Sustainability Issues, The University of Louisville, issue 29 (Fall/Winter 2014) [6.43 MB, PDF]

Cities do not cause heat waves – they amplify them. Because of the greater prevalence of mineral-based building materials, such as stone, slate, concrete, and asphalt, cities absorb and retain substantially more heat than rural areas characterized by more vegetative cover. Known generally as the “urban heat island effect,” this phenomenon keeps cities warmer by several degrees than surrounding countryside throughout the year.


sddSDdsCLIMATE CHANGE AND SECURITY: Climate Change ‘Will See More UK Forces deployed in Conflicts around World’, Damian Carrington, The Guardian (11 November 2014)

Massive GHG emissions reductions are the sine qua non of security on climate change. The good news: China and the U.S. have cooperated to promise to a first, albeit non-binding, move on GHG emissions. The bad news: this is nothing like enough to keep a 2oC limit, with the chances of a 4oC hotter world, with adaptation possibilities severely constrained, still rising. “We could probably secure a 2C world,” said Rear-Admiral Neil Morisetti. “I think it most unlikely we would be able secure a 4C world.”


The Nautilus Peace and Security Weekly Report presents articles and full length reports each week in six categories: Austral security, nuclear deterrence, energy security, climate change and security, the DPRK, climate change adaptation and governance and civil society. Our team of contributors carefully select items that highlight the links between these themes and the three regions in which our offices are found—North America, Northeast Asia, and the Austral-Asia region.


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