- DETERRENCE: KPA Supreme Command warns Lee Myung Bak group of quick action
- DPRK: U.S. says has raised North Korea missile-linked sale with China
- CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Towards a legal framework for coastal adaptation: Assessing the first steps in Europe and Australia
- ENERGY SECURITY: Germany’s stalled energy transition: Waiting for the master plan
- GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: Osaka governor criticizes process towards restart of Oi reactors with eye on next Lower House election
- AUSTRAL PEACE AND SECURITY: Public left in dark over Afghanistan proposal
DETERRENCE: KPA Supreme Command warns Lee Myung Bak group of quick action, KCNA (23 April 2012)
ROK officials noted their cruise missile can strike Kim Jong Un’s office window (English ROK media referred only to windows). Noting the threat, the KPA’s “special operation action group” declared it would reduce “the Lee Myung Bak group of traitors, the arch criminals, and the group of rat-like elements including conservative media” to ashes in 3-4 minutes.
- South shows off missiles of its own, Kim Hee-jin, JoongAng Daily Online (20 April 2012)
- Chinese President Hu lauds North Korea ties despite tension, Christopher Buckley, Reuters, Beijing (23 April 2012)
- Kim Jong Un sends reply message to Hu Jintao, KCNA (23 April 2012)
DPRK: U.S. says has raised North Korea missile-linked sale with China, Matt Spetalnick and Alister Bull, Reuters (23 April 2012)
The Obama Administration suspects a company in China of supplying components of a missile transporter to North Korea, despite UNSC sanctions on the DPRK. The Administration reported that it has raised this issue with the Chinese government. The missile itself was a mock-up, made out of layers of paper. The technology used in North Korea’s missile program “appears to be of Soviet/Russian origin, not Chinese” according to expert David Wright.
- North Korea’s new missile: Not an ICBM, David Wright, All Things Nuclear (22 April 2012)
- A dog and pony show: North Korea’s new ICBM, Markus Schiller and Robert H. Schmucker, Arms Control Wonk (18 April 2012)
- DPRK’s satellites for peaceful purposes to continue orbiting space: KCST spokesman, KCNA News (19 April 2012)
CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Towards a legal framework for coastal adaptation: Assessing the first steps in Europe and Australia, Jonathan Verschuuren and Jan McDonald, Paper for: Symposium “The Governance of Adaptation”, Amsterdam (22-23 March 2012) [PDF, 333 KB]
In light of the urgent need for coastal climate adaptation policies and the impediments to their implementation, Jonathan Verschuuren and Jan McDonald examined the early experience with coastal adaptation policies in the EU and Australia, with a view to identifying the important features of a regulatory framework for coastal adaptation. They concluded that an integrated approach to coastal adaptation law is currently needed to lay the foundations for the required long term strategy.
- The economics of climate adaptation in EU coastal areas: Summary report, European Policy Research Corporation, Luxemburg (2009) [PDF, 689 KB]
- Climate change: Assessment of climate change mitigation and adaptation, OSPAR Commission, London, pp. 22-28 (2009)
ENERGY SECURITY: Germany’s stalled energy transition: Waiting for the master plan, Paul Hockenos, European Energy Review (19 April 2012)
Decades ago, suspicions about Germany’s nuclear pursuits got others nervous enough to start their own. Now its planned denuclearization, a costly and high-risk battle, is also being watched anxiously. Within Germany there are worries that policy implementation is slow and haphazard, and the environmentalists are upset about burning more lignite and importing coal/nuclear power. Others are nervous that the fever will catch on in the US. Time will tell if people have lost faith in experts and editorialists.
- Germany’s nuclear power phaseout turns off environmentalists, Aaron Wiener, Los Angeles Times (20 April 2012)
- Merkel looks to map out nuclear exit, Andrea Thomas, Jan Hromadko, and Frienrich Geiger, Wall Street Journal (24 April 2012)
- Risk, fear and nuclear power, David Ropeik, Los Angeles Times (13 April 2012)
- Phasing out nuclear, Editorial, Washington Post (23 April 2012)
GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: Osaka governor criticizes process towards restart of Oi reactors with eye on next Lower House election, Yomiuri Shimbun (26 April 2012)
With all of Japan’s nuclear reactors set to go offline in May, the government is pushing to restart the Oi reactors, arguing Japan faces a summer energy shortage. The OECD has also advised a return to nuclear power. However, local governments, led by the increasingly popular Osaka mayor, Hashimoto, oppose restart and pose a significant threat to the ruling LDP in the upcoming Lower House elections.
- Unhappiness about Japan’s nuclear restart policy, Asia One News (5 April 2012)
- OECD urges Japan to resume operations of nuclear power plants, Mainichi Shimbun (25 April 2012)
- DPJ to ‘ignore’ unreasonable demands, Yomiuri Shimbun (26 April 2012)
AUSTRAL PEACE AND SECURITY: Public left in dark over Afghanistan proposal, Dylan Welch, The Age (14 April 2012)
While undisclosed in Australia, the Afghanistan government revealed Australian plans for a strategic partnership for the period following the withdrawal of Australian troops. US and Afghanistan governments were concluding their own strategic partnership agreements, and the US was pressing allies to do the same.
- U.S., Afghanistan draft pact for American role after 2014, Eltaf Najafizada and James Rupert, Bloomberg (24 April 2012)
- Taliban far from defeated in Australian zone: Report, Tom Hyland, The Age (22 April 2012)
- Out of the war: Eight steps to a sustainable peace in Afghanistan, Richard Tanter, Austral Policy Forum 10-03A (15 December 2010)
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Editor
Contributors
- Deterrence: Peter Hayes
- Governance and Civil Society: Yi Kiho, Dyana Mardon
- Climate Change Adaptation: Saleem Janjua
- DPRK: Scott Bruce
- Energy Security: Nikhil Desai
- Climate Change and Security: Richard Tanter
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