APSNet 20 October 2008

1. Climate Change Expert Worries Financial Crisis Will be ‘Excuse’ to  Delay Action
2. Several Thousand Papuans March for Independence
3. Study Finds Decreased Public Support for RAMSI
4. Security Beneath the Waves
5. NATO Pessimism: The West Is at a Loss in Afghanistan
6. China to Help Pakistan Build Two More Nuclear Power Plants
7. Imperial Pretensions and the Financial Crunch

1. Climate Change Expert Worries Financial Crisis Will be ‘Excuse’ to  Delay Action, Toni Johnson with Kevin M.Conrad, CFR, 2008-10-08

In countries like Australia there was some concern that they wouldn’t be able to start their cap-and-trade program because they didn’t feel like their economy was growing enough, the political will maybe wasn’t there. So, we do have a serious problem. I speak on behalf of Papua New Guinea, we are currently seeing sea-level rise impact our communities. We are relocating communities. There are real costs of inaction.

• Fight against Climate Change Must Continue: Rudd, ABC, 2008-10-17

2. Several Thousand Papuans March for Independence, Oka Barta Daud and John Pakage, Reuters UK, 2008-10-16

About 2,000 people rallied in the capital of Indonesia’s Papua province, calling for independence for the remote, resource-rich area in the far east of the country. Shouting “freedom,” some protesters carried banners saying “Review the act of no choice in 1969,” referring to a disputed vote that led to Papua being formally incorporated into Indonesia.

3. Study Finds Decreased Public Support for RAMSI, Radio Australia, 2008-10-17

Public support for the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands has dropped slightly from last year. The People’s Survey 2008, conducted by the Australian National University, showed 86 per cent of respondents said they support the presence of RAMSI in the Pacific nation. This is a drop from the 90 per cent that supported the mission last year.

• People’s Survey 2008, ANU Enterprise, October 2008

4. Security Beneath the Waves, Patrick Walters, Australian, 2008-10-18

Kevin Rudd understands one big thing about Australia’s future defence: in an age of strategic discord and restless change in Asia, our navy must grow and deliver more strategic weight in the nation’s defence. Rudd sees a larger submarine force as part of an essential maritime shield able to protect Australia’s “sea-lines of communication” in a more volatile region.

5. NATO Pessimism: The West Is at a Loss in Afghanistan, Susanne Koelbl, Spiegel, 2008-10-17

More and more military and civilian leaders are voicing pessimism when it comes to the NATO mission in Afghanistan. As the fight continues, ideas for how to break through the ongoing stalemate are few. Some are beginning to think that victory – for either side – is impossible.

• How We Lost the War We Won: A Journey into Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, Nir Rosen, Rolling Stone, 2008-10-30

6. China to Help Pakistan Build Two More Nuclear Power Plants, AP, CNN, 2008-10-18

Pakistan said that China will help it build two more nuclear power plants, offsetting Pakistani frustration over a recent nuclear deal between archrival India and the United States. US officials including Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, who arrived in Islamabad on Saturday for talks, have rejected Pakistani calls for equal treatment with India on nuclear power.

7. Imperial Pretensions and the Financial Crunch, Aziz Huq, Tomgram, 2008-10-16

The US today stands in a position somewhat reminiscent of imperial Great Britain after the Second World War: its currency no longer the pillar of global financial stability, its armies and navies no longer capable of enforcing its policy desires, and its reputation battered by formally successful but functionally catastrophic military conflicts.

8. Nautilus Institute Updates

• Re-Framing Australia-Indonesia Security: Indonesia – Nuclear Power
• Feasibility Studies, Indonesian Nuclear Power Project
• Corruption in the Nuclear Regulatory Agency (Bapeten), Indonesian Nuclear Power Project

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