Nautilus Peace and Security – 2 October

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"Nautilus Peace and Security – 2 October", NAPSNet Weekly Report, October 02, 2014, https://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-weekly/nautilus-peace-and-security-2-october/


UntitledDETERRENCE: North Korea threatens Britain over ‘Mud-Slinging’ Channel 4 Thriller Focusing on Kim Jong-un’s Nuclear Weapons Programme, J. Denham, The Independent, September 2, 2014

Nuclear war is still an imaginary act. The borderline between the imagined first strike, the imagined retaliation, and the real world is ambiguous. Bots may patrol this boundary.  Some people are not sure if they are in the real world or the imaginary world of nuclear war.


940UN General Assembly North KoreaDPRK: Toward and Effective and Sustainable Inter-Korean Relations Policy. Gi-Wook Shin, David Straub, Joyce Lee, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (September 2014).

How best to engage North Korea, if there is an external desire to engage North Korea? North Korea’s Minister of Foreign Affairs participated in the United Nations General Assembly for the first time in almost two decades.  North Korea denied inviting UN Secretary General, reiterated their positions on returning to the Six Party Talks and most other discussions of their nuclear program, and said they are ready to discuss human rights, of course with some serious caveats.  It was a refreshing change, but it is unclear if this was a temporary set of tactics or a sustained change in the relationship North Korea wants with the world.


Logo_WCCJGOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: Proposal made for Asian Human Rights Court, Hankyoreh (30 September 2014)

The top ROK judge proposed the establishment of an Asian human rights court as a means of promoting integration in the region in consideration of Asia’s troubled human rights past. The establishment of such a body is unlikely however, given the stark differences in historical viewpoints in the region. The UN’s top envoy on racism is looking at discrimination in the ROK for a report to be published next year.


CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Small Island Developing States and IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report, Elizabeth Carabine and Mairi Dupar, CDKN and Overseas Development Institute, UK (August 2014) [4.87 MB, PDF]

Given the interdependence among countries in today’s world, the impacts of climate change on resources or commodities in one place will have far-reaching effects on prices, supply chains, trade, investment and political relations in other places. Thus, climate change will progressively threaten food security and economic growth in complex ways across the world.


UntitledENERGY SECURITY: Justices Uphold Emission Limits on Big Industry, Adam Liptakjune, New York Times (23 June 2014)

The glass is half full and half empty, or reporters’ glasses are half foggy and half sooty. The Times is relieved that the Supreme Court justices “uphold” emission limits, the Post cautions that they “limit” EPA’s authority. Justice Scalia says, “We are not willing to stand on the dock and wave goodbye as EPA embarks on this multiyear voyage of discovery.” The Supreme Court will be as busy as the Congress and the Administration leave the public to want answers only it can provide.  For now, the Court has denied a blank check.


Screen Shot 2014-09-27 at 8.16.57 AMAUSTRAL PEACE AND SECURITY: Losing the “Forgotten War”: The U.S. Strategic Vacuum in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia, Anthony H. Cordesman, CSIS (26 September 2014)

It’s “déjà vu, all over again”. Australia, sans parliamentary debate on strategy or legitimacy, has deployed 600 personnel to Iraq via Al Minhad AFB in the UAE – on top of the 800 already present – and only awaits Iraqi SOFA sign off. US missile strikes in Syria are alleged to have killed civilians. And US strategists contemplating Afghanistan’s “decent interval” recommend “strategic triage” – i.e. dump the $800 billion 13 year war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and get back to Iraq – and Syria.


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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