- DETERRENCE: The economic geography of North Korean drug trafficking networks
- DPRK: Rival Koreas to resume high-level talks
- ENERGY SECURITY: Killer Typhoon: What made Haiyan so destructive, and how can we prepare for the next monster storm?
- GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: Virginia vote on Sea of Japan hands victory to Koreans
- CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Living with environmental change: waterworlds
- CLIMATE CHANGE AND SECURITY: Migration and Environmental Change in Asia
DETERRENCE: The economic geography of North Korean drug trafficking networks, Justin Hastings, University of Sydney (January 2014)
The DPRK state sponsored drug trafficking primarily during famine and aftermath to fund the military, via planes and ships from ports such as Nampo. Since 2005, the state cracked down, but the network is robust with little spread beyond coastal waters; and over the land border into China.
- In North Korea, meth is offered as casually as a cup of tea, Barbara Demick, LA Times (27 January 2014)
- Going West? Spatial polarization of the North Korean port system, Cesar Ducruet et al, Journal of Transport Geography, 17: 5, pp. 357-368 (2008) [PDF, 2MB]
- Study on problem of trans-border drugs crimes on Sino-DPRK border (www.wanfangdata.com.cn), Meng Lijun, Border Defense Department of the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force Academy, Journal of Chinese People’s Armed Police Force Academy, 1 (2009) [Chinese Language]
DPRK: Rival Koreas to resume high-level talks, Al Jazeera (11 Feb 2014)
North Korea likely has all the technical means to test either a missile or a nuclear device but has likely not done so because they assess the time is not right. It is unclear what length of time or what activities may cause them to act. Empirical history suggests Pyongyang’s reward threshold is easier to reach than its pain threshold. North Korea appears to be talking with the South and with Japan. North Korea’s delegation is led by the United Front Department indicating the talks are primarily political.
- Abe adviser visited Dalian for possible North contact, The Japan Times (11 February 2014)
- South and North Korea held high-level talks today, (China) People’s Daily Online (3 February 2014) [Chinese-language]
- Can Washington and Seoul try dealing with Pyongyang for a change? Leon Sigal, Arms Control Today (November 2010)
ENERGY SECURITY: Killer Typhoon: What made Haiyan so destructive, and how can we prepare for the next monster storm? PBS show Nova (22 January 2014) [Video, approx. 1 hour]
There is no telling when or where the next monster storm would strike and how, but planning by fantasy is a cult. Surely not by cutting Philippines use of fossil fuels, which run the lifeline of sea and land transport and also run electricity generators in remote areas. Making only the counts matter and not counting what matters to the people pretentious punditry of models. One example is the ongoing war against Keystone pipeline portions in the US.
- Keystone XL pipeline report creates political headache for Obama, Li Halloran, NPR via WAMU (3 February 2014)
- State Department releases Keystone XL final environmental impact statement, Juliet Eilperin and Steven Mufson, Washington Post (31 January 2014)
GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: Virginia vote on Sea of Japan hands victory to Koreans, Gary Robertson, Reuters (6 February 2014)
Regional territorial disputes between Japan and the ROK entered the US domestic arena last week, as Virginia approved a bill stipulating that school textbooks must use both the “Sea of Japan” and “East Sea” for the body of water separating the two countries. Other US states are now considering similar bills. In Japan, publications criticizing Korean and Chinese society and politics have seen a significant increase in popularity and sales.
- A debate in New York over the name of a sea between Japan and the Koreas, Sam Roberts, New York Times (11 February 2014)
- Publications disparaging S. Korea, China hot sellers in Japan, Mayumi Mori, Asahi Shimbun (12 February 2014)
CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Living with environmental change: waterworlds, Kirsten Hastrup and Cecilie Rubow (editors), 3004 pp, Routledge (to be published on 25th February 2014)
Experiences indicate that climate change phenomenon cannot be understood through scientific data, theories and climate modeling alone. It is also critical to look at what climate change means to individuals or communities living in different locations. Therefore, the anthropological analysis of climate change is no less important than its scientific study. Rather than something to be frightened of, climate change is becoming part of the way in which humans and their cultures repeatedly respond to the future and in so doing they re-shape it as well.
- Climate and culture: anthropology in the era of contemporary climate change, Susan A. Crate, Annual Review of Anthropology, vol. 40, pp. 175-194 (October 2011)
- The perception factor: climate change gets personal, Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 118, no. 11 (November 2010) [PDF, 8.27 MB]
CLIMATE CHANGE AND SECURITY: Migration and Environmental Change in Asia, Graeme Hugo and Douglas K. Bardsley, in People on the Move in a Changing Climate: The Regional Impact of Environmental Change on Migration, Etienne Piguet and Frank Laczko (eds.), Springer, pp. 21-38. (2014)
Though pathways are complex, the security consequences of climate change involve global equity and justice. Minimally, without a shared global norm of fairness, climate agreements will be difficult. Migration will very likely induce conflict in Asia, but, optimistically, “if sound policy could be implemented in a timely manner, new forms and scales of population mobility could be harnessed to reduce poverty and enhance economic and social development.”
- Special Issue: Equity, sustainable development and climate policy, eds. Sonja Klinsky and Harald Winkler, Climate Policy, Volume 14, Issue 1 (2014)
- Atoll Island States and International Law: Climate Change Displacement and Sovereignty, Lilian Yamamoto and Miguel Esteban, Springer (2014)
- Atoll Island States and Climate Change: Sovereignty Implications, Lilian Yamamoto and Miguel Esteban, United Nations University, UNU-IAS Working Paper No. 166 (October 2011) [PDF, 1.5MB]
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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Contributors
- Deterrence: Peter Hayes
- Governance and Civil Society: Dyana Mardon
- Energy Security: Nikhil Desai
- Climate Change Adaptation: Saleem Janjua
- DPRK: Roger Cavazos
- Austral Peace and Security: Richard Tanter