NAPSNET 19 May 2011
- Deterrence: The U.S. policy of extended deterrence in East Asia
- DPRK: DPRK denounces Lee Myung Bak’s provocative remarks against DPRK
- AUSTRAL SECURITY: Myanmar, North Korea in missile nexus
- GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: Action June 11: no nuclear power
- ENERGY SECURITY: Stanford Ovshinsky: pursuing solar electricity at a cost equal to or lower than that of coal electricity
- CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Spending adaptation money wisely
DETERRENCE: The U.S. policy of extended deterrence in East Asia, Brookings Institution (February 2011)
Asia’s rise to global significance in post-Cold War global agendas, and shifts in U.S. nuclear policy have modified the extended deterrence dilemma for US allies but have not negated it says Richard Bush in The U.S. Policy of Extended Deterrence in East Asia. A regional, multilateral nuclear planning mechanism would need to be designed to reduce the salience of nuclear weapons in China’s military policy.
- Rethinking extended deterrence in Northeast Asia, Nautilus Institute (3 November 2010)
- Realigning priorities: The U.S.-Japan alliance & the future of extended deterrence, Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis (March 2009) [PDF, 1.86MB]
- North Korea and the US nuclear umbrella: the credibility gap, CSIS (3 September 2010)
DPRK: DPRK denounces Lee Myung Bak’s provocative remarks against DPRK, KCNA (11 May 2011)
North Korea rejected ROK President Lee Myung-Bak’s invitation to attend the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul. North Korea described the South’s preconditions (an apology and pledge to eventually denuclearize) as an insult to the “dignity” of the state and a “mockery” of the DPRK’s effort to restart dialogue with the ROK. The article also attacked what it saw as an implied comparison between North Korea and East Germany in the offer. The KCNA statement marked one of the first uses of the phrase “traitor Lee Myung-Bak” in DPRK news since December 2010.
- Offer to Kim Jong-il ‘still stands’, Chosun Ilbo (13 May 2011)
- North Korean nuclear nationalism and the threat of nuclear war in Korea, Nautilus Institute (21 April 2011)
- KCNA references to ‘traitor Lee Myung-Bak’, Nautilus Institute (May 2011)
AUSTRAL SECURITY: Myanmar, North Korea in missile nexus, Asia Times (2 March 2011)
Bertil Lintner says that new evidence that North Korea has assisted Myanmar to produce ‘long-range Scud-type missiles’ could have serious repercussions in the region, sparking an arms race among neighbouring countries. Lintner says Myanmar is on the way to becoming the ‘a new global weapons proliferation hotspot’.
- 04RANGOON1100, Alleged North Korean involvement in missile assembly and underground facility construction in Burma, Wikileaks (12 December 2010)
- Myanmar’s military ambitions, Al Jazeera (4 June 2010)
GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: Action June 11: no nuclear power, No Nukes (May 2011)
Three months after the Fukushima disaster and 3 months before the anniversary of the 9.11 terrorist attacks, Japanese civil groups are organizing June 11 actions for ‘no nuclear power’. While supporting Japanese civil groups on nuclear issues, groups in ROK and China joined to deal with Japan’s distortion of history textbooks.
- More than 60% of voters support Hamaoka nuclear plant shutdown, Asahi Shimbun (17 May 2011)
- 4 Northeast Asia nations join hands over Japanese atrocities, Dong-a Ilbo (14 May 2011)
ENERGY SECURITY: Stanford Ovshinsky: pursuing solar electricity at a cost equal to or lower than that of coal electricity, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (May/June, 2011)
In an interview with the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Stanford Ovshinsky, a key figure in the development of solar photovoltaic cells (PVs) and advanced batteries, discusses institutional roadblocks to and elements of a sensible energy policy. He describes plans for 150,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facilities producing 1 GW of thin-film PV panels per year that would put electricity costs from solar PV on a par with coal-fired generation.
- Achieving low-cost solar PV: industry workshop recommendations for near-term balance of system cost reductions, Rocky Mountain Institute (September 2010)
- ADB supports private sector wind portfolio in northern PRC, Eco-business.com (28 January 2011)
- Korea’s largest renewable energy plant to be constructed in Gyeonggi Province, Arirang News (22 February 2011)
CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Spending adaptation money wisely, Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, and Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment (2011) [PDF, 361 KB]
The discussions about climate adaptation finance have mostly been about process: how money should be raised and how adaptation spending should be governed and monitored. Fankhauser and Burton seek to move the focus of the debate back towards the substance of adaptation by asking what “good adaptation” in developing countries would look like. They argue that the best use of funds in the short term may be for “soft”, or less tangible developmental activities that increase adaptive capacity.
- The costs to developing countries of adapting to climate change: new methods and estimates, World Bank (2011) [PDF, 332KB]
- Assessing the costs of adaptation to climate change: A review of the UNFCCC and other recent estimates, IIED (2009) [PDF, 1.95MB]
Editor
Contributors
- Deterrence: Peter Hayes
- Governance and Civil Society: Yi Kiho
- Climate Change Adaptation: Saleem Janjua
- DPRK: Scott Bruce
- Energy Security: David von Hippel
- Austral Security: Arabella Imhoff