CONTENTS
- DETERRENCE: The social impact of bomb destruction
- DPRK: Foundations of energy security for the DPRK
- ENERGY SECURITY: Coal’s share of global energy mix to continue
rising - GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: Korea elects first woman president
- CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Building
climate resilience - CLIMATE CHANGE AND SECURITY: Worst fortnight ever for carbon markets?
See this week’s blog: Climate adaptation challenges for Pakistan, from our Climate Change Adaptation contributor, Saleem Janjua.
DETERRENCE: The social impact of bomb destruction, Fred Ikle, University of Oklahoma Press (1968)
Thermonuclear, all-out war could kill everyone. But what if it didn’t? Language and writing would likely survive; the fine arts might not. A nuclear war might impede the development of fine arts in a post-war civilization, but it might also allow creation of new art. The misery and horror of nuclear war is beyond the power of human imagination.
- The Cold War conception of nuclear reality: mobilizing the American imagination for nuclear war in the 1950’s, Guy Oakes, International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, vol. 6, no. 3 (Spring 1993)
- U.S. strategic nuclear policy: a video history, 1945-2004, Sandia labs historical video documents history of U.S. strategic nuclear policy, National security archive electronic briefing book No. 361 (Posted – 11 October 2011)
- Film: A documentary, ‘Sherman’s March,’ Vincent Canby, New York Times (5 September 1986)
DPRK: Foundations of energy security for the DPRK: 1990-2009 Energy balances, engagement options, and future paths for energy and economic redevelopment David von Hippel and Peter Hayes, Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability (18 December 2012)
Energy sector issues play a key role in any North Korean crisis. Nautilus details those needs and shows North Korea has significant energy shortfalls. North Korea marked the one year anniversary of Kim Jong-il’s death in grand fashion. Kim Jong-un must complete these symbolic actions to demonstrate his filial piety – and qualifications to rule North Korea. North Korea’s satellite appears to be dead. They do not have a credible space program.
- One year after, thousands in N’Korea mourn late leader, The Guardian (17 December 2012)
- Part I: a dynamically stable regime, Alexandre Mansourov, 38 North Blog (17 December 2012)
- N Korea satellite appears dead: scientist, Dawn.com (26 September 2012)
ENERGY SECURITY: Coal’s share of global energy mix to continue rising, with coal closing in on oil as world’s top energy source by 2017, IEA press release for medium-term coal outlook, IEA (17 December 2012)
After the rituals of a climate conference here and an energy policy report there, the world finds it comforting to return to the most secure fuel some people love to loathe, demonize and want to tax out of existence. Because China is coal, coal is China, coal-and-China is globalization (around the Pacific at least) and grid electricity is nearly everything for 2/3rd of humanity and growing. Gas stalls, nuclear leaks, and carbon taxation is going nowhere. Let anti-fossil fuels policy factories continue belching smoke in people’s eyes; coal is king, petroleum is queen.
- Global gas push stalls, Russell Gold and Marynia Kruk, Wall Street Journal (2 December 2012)
- There’s not gonna be a carbon tax, David Roberts, Grist (14 November 2012)
- Nuclear risks not bound by borders, Eriko Arita, Japan Times (13 December 2012)
GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: Korea elects first woman president, Ser Myo-ja, Joongang Ilbo (20 December 2012)
South Korea and Japan both elected conservative party candidates to power this week. China is concerned that conservative leaders in both Korea and Japan may continue to stoke tensions, particularly over territorial disputes between Japan and both of its neighbors. This may also be a concern for the US in its Asia “pivot” if regional disputes hinder progress in addressing DPRK nuclear issues and US security interests in the region.
- After landslide, Abe says Japan has difficult road, Malcolm Foster, Associated Press (18 December 2012)
- Japan and Korea: A tale of two elections, Michael J. Green, Foreign Policy (17 December 2012) [Free subscription required]
- U.S. nervous about Japan’s new Prime Minister, Jackie Northam, NPR (18 December 2012)
CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Building climate resilience: Local governments on the frontline? Pursuing the MDGs through local government, Global Forum on Local Development (2012) [152 KB, PDF]
Several developed economies have convincingly demonstrated that local governments can play an important role to the climate change agenda through adaptation and mitigation activities. An important step in unlocking the potential of local governments in support of climate changes is to give local-level governments a decisive role in the national climate planning process, and to increase their access to national climate change resources.
- Climate change adaptation at the local government level: the case of Pakistan, Saleem Janjua, The International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability, vol. 5, no. 3 (2011) [subscription required]
- Climate change perspective in Pakistan, Anjum Bari Farooqi, Azmat Hayat Khan, Hazrat Mir, Pakistan Journal of Meteorology, vol. 2, no. 3 (2005) [718 KB, PDF]
BLOG: Climate adaptation challenges for Pakistan
by Saleem Janjua – Climate Change Adaptation Contributor Pakistan, similar to other developing countries, is undergoing an evolution from an…
CLIMATE CHANGE AND SECURITY: Worst fortnight ever for carbon markets? Chris Lang, REDD Monitor (13 December 2012)
“With very few exceptions, investment banks, commercial banks, commodity based hedge funds and specialised carbon funds with exposure to the CDM have either closed shop and laid off their deal teams or appointed caretakers to manage portfolios of assets with residual value. Those business still active in the CDM are the ‘walking dead’ of the carbon market. They are living on deals done at higher prices years back and are living on borrowed time, if not borrowed money.”
- Doha dispatches: Carbon market collapse creates another fine mess, Giles Parkinson, Renew Economy (6 December 2012)
- Indonesia approves landmark forest protection project, David Fogarty, Reuters (5 December 2012)
- Palming off: Indonesia’s forests and REDD, The Economist (6 December 2012)
- Achieving climate security in the Pacific: alternatives to the UNFCCC, Ben Sims, Pacific Institute of Public Policy, Outreach (7 December 2012)
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. Each week, one of our authors also provides a short blog that explores these inter-relationships.
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Editor
Contributors
- Deterrence: Peter Hayes
- Governance and Civil Society: Dyana Mardon, Yi Kiho
- Climate Change Adaptation: Saleem Janjua
- DPRK: Roger Cavazos
- Energy Security: Nikhil Desai
- Climate Change and Security: Richard Tanter