Nautilus Peace and Security Network – 26 March 2015

• DETERRENCE: Ballistic missile defense and strategic stability in East Asia
• DPRK: What do the recent Japan, China, South Korea talks mean?
• GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: China’s “Silent Spring” moment?
• CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Planning for cooler cities: a framework to prioritise green infrastructure to mitigate high temperatures in urban landscapes
• AUSTRAL AND SECURITY: A foreign policy realist and dissenter

DETERRENCE: Ballistic missile defense and strategic stability in East Asia, Frank Rose, Remarks, State Department, remarks at Federation of American Scientists (20 February 2015)

The US is committed to strategic stability in US-China relations but this does not mean mutual assured destruction. Rose says a Chinese ground missile defense would not be destabilizing. Chinese policymakers view US missile defense as reducing mutual vulnerability and destabilizing.

• Seeking China-U.S. Strategic Nuclear Stability, Charles Ferguson, Federation of American Scientists, Public Interest Reports (19 February 2015)
• “Placing a Renminbi Sign on Strategic Stability and Nuclear Reductions”, Lora Saalman, pp. 347-350, 357-361, 368, in E. Colby, M. Gerson edited, Strategic Stability: Contending Interpretations, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College (February 2013) [PDF, 2.4MB]
• Ballistic missile defense in the Asia-Pacific Region: cooperation and opposition, Ian E. Rinehart, Steven A. Hildreth and Susan V. Lawrence Specialist in Asian Affairs (24 June 2013) [PDF, 0.4MB]

DPRK: What do the recent Japan, China, South Korea talks mean? Gabriel Dominguez, Deutsche Welle (23 March 2015)

Foreign Ministers from China, Japan and South Korea met for the first time in three years. It is premature to say that the three reached full consensus, but their process of rapprochement signals decreased room for North Korea to act outside of their collective boundaries. Linguistically, North Korea continues to move away from South Korea and away from China and Japan, too because the three – unlike North Korea – adopt foreign words and concepts to a degree that North Korea does not. The linguistic gap will have negative impacts for communication which will only grow worse with time.

• Diminishing China-North Korea exchanges: an assessment, U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (23 March 2015)
• U.S. squares off with China over North Korea missile defense, Sam Kim, Bloomberg Business (22 March 2015)
• After long split, 2 Koreas face increasing linguistic divide, Daily Times (Pakistan) (23 March 2015)

GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: China’s “Silent Spring” moment? Daniel Gardner, New York Times (18 March 2015)

The Chinese environmental documentary “Under the Dome” became an internet sensation after being released by the People’s Daily, only to be censored after going viral. Part of the film’s appeal seems to be its ability to voice what many citizens feel when it comes to environmental degradation and official corruption, providing an outlet for discussion and criticism of the government.

• Chinese pollution documentary raises questions, energy and literacy, Raveena Aulakh, Cambridge Times (11 March 2015)
• When 1.3 billion became environmental refugees, Chu Hon Kueng, Global Voices (20 March 2015)

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Planning for cooler cities: a framework to prioritise green infrastructure to mitigate high temperatures in urban landscapes, Briony A. Norton et al., Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 134 (2015) [3.12 MB, PDF]

Urban green infrastructure (UGI) is an important component of any climate adaptation strategy because of the multiple benefits it provides to the community and local urban eco-systems. The integration of UGI into the public realm is important to mitigate high urban temperatures. The cooling benefits of four types of UGI have been quantified: (1) green open spaces (primarily public parks); (2) shade trees; (3) green roofs; and (4) vertical greening systems (green walls and facades).

• Planning for a cooler future: green infrastructure to reduce urban heat, Briony Norton et al., Climate Adaptation for Decision-makers, Victorian Centre for Climate Change Adaptation Research-VCCCAR (October 2013) [1.57 MB, PDF]
• The value of green infrastructure for urban climate adaptation, Josh Foster, Ashley Lowe and Steve Winkelman, the Center for Clean Air Policy (February 2011) [971 KB, PDF]

AUSTRAL PEACE AND SECURITY: A foreign policy realist and dissenter, Philip Dorling, The Age (21 March 2015)

Vale Malcolm Fraser, Cold Warrior, post-Cold War critic of US strategic dysfunction, and recorder of consequences for uncritical allied wannabes. Advocate of a never-yet-seen independent Australia, defensible in both military and moral terms, Fraser’s classical realism indicted servile Australian acceptance of both “alliance maintenance” rationales for war and bipartisan consensus on a networked alliance. And his insistence on dignity, law, and rights measured its palpable human, moral, and strategic costs.

• How the ADF is mentoring Iraqi forces can’t be shown in a cute snapshot, Nicholas Stuart, The Age (16 March 2015)
• Spies like us: ASIS training Japanese, Paul Maley, The Australian (21 March 2015) *Subscription required
• Australian spy officer was sent to New Zealand to lead new surveillance unit, Paul Farrell, The Guardian (11 March 2015)