- DETERRENCE: Nuclear weapons hide in pandora’s box as Scots seek to quit U.K.
- DPRK: Are they “crying wolf” on the Korean Peninsula? No
- ENERGY SECURITY: International index of energy security risk: assessing risk in a global energy market
- GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: S. Korea to delink humanitarian aid from N. Korea’s denuclearization actions
- CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Australia’s country towns 2050: What will a climate adapted settlement pattern look like
- CLIMATE CHANGE AND SECURITY: The secure and the damned
See today’s Policy Forum: Learning Organisation Paradigm and Climate Adaptation, by Saleem Janjua, Climate Change Adaptation contributor
DETERRENCE: Nuclear weapons hide in pandora’s box as Scots seek to quit U.K., Peter Woodifield, Bloomberg.com (22 March 2013)
If Scots vote in 2014 for full sovereignty, then they may demand that 4 Trident submarines at Falsane and nuclear warheads at Coulport are removed. Scottish leaders would stay in NATO upon independence, but only if nuclear weapons are removed forever. The UK government has no plans to relocate the weapons to France or the US.
- The referendum on separation for Scotland: Terminating trident-days or decades? Scottish Affairs Committee – Fourth Report (23 October 2012)
- U.K. lawmakers eye basing submarines at U.S. port, if expelled by Scots, Elaine Grossman, Global Security Newswire (31 October 2012)
DPRK: Are they “crying wolf” on the Korean Peninsula? No, Dong Jiaxiu, Beijing Times, (27 March 2013) [Chinese language]
Despite classic deterrence measures, it appears the stage is set for miscalculations and a high possibility of an escalatory spiral. China has clearly noted U.S. and South Korean military agreement on retaliation if North Korea strikes. North Korea will convene a plenary session before April. The meeting was called to discuss “decisive changes in Juche”.
- South Korea president tells North Korea ‘abandon nuclear weapons’ to survive, Times of India, (26 March 2013)
- What’s wrong with China’s North Korea policy?, Xie Tao, Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, (26 March 2013)
- (North) Korea workers party to convene central committee plenary session, Wang Li, People’s Daily (27 March 2013)
ENERGY SECURITY: International index of energy security risk: assessing risk in a global energy market, Institute for 21st Century Energy, US Chamber of Commerce (2012) [PDF, 4MB]
Every country has energy supply insecurities. Definition of these insecurities and of options to mitigate risks are a political task with competing elite interests. Better contracting? By whom and under which law? Stronger military force projection combined with soft trade diplomacy of mutually assured damages? Just who in particular bears what risks, though? Some 47% of developing country population depends on 19th Century fuels for lighting or cooking/heating. Who measures their risks and damages?
- Beijing’s difficult balancing act for energy security, Suwatchai Songwanich, The Nation (25 March 2013)
- Russia and China in major natural gas supply pact, James Marson, Wall Street Journal (22 March 2013) [Subscription required]
GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: S. Korea to delink humanitarian aid from N. Korea’s denuclearization actions, Yonhap (27 March 2013)
The Park Administration will pursue a three-stage “trust-building” policy with the DPRK, delinking humanitarian assistance from denuclearization, although military tensions remain high three years after the sinking of the ROK warship, Cheonan. A group of high-profile media and political figures in the ROK launched a new organization to initiate projects providing humanitarian aid and promoting cultural exchange with the DPRK.
- Big names join hands for unification, Lee Young-jong, Joongang Ilbo (27 March 2013)
- Trust-building for the Koreas, three years after the Cheonan sinking, Park Byong-su and Kim Kyu-won, Hankyoreh (16 March 2013)
CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Australia’s country towns 2050: What will a climate adapted settlement pattern look like, preliminary report, A. Beer et al., Centre for Housing, Urban and Regional Planning, University of Adelaide (2013)
The future of Australia’s country towns will be determined by their capacity to adapt, which in turn will be affected by their stock of community assets including social, economic, human and natural capital. Some locations will be more sensitive than others when exposed to climate change, one group of settlements will adapt well, while others maladapt or simply disappear. Therefore, we need to consider the structure and functioning of Australia’s country towns in the year 2050 in the face of on-going climate driven change.
- Climate change risk and vulnerability: promoting an efficient adaptation response in Australia, final report, Report to the Australian Greenhouse Office, Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australia (2005) [PDF, 1.71 MB]
- Securing the Australian city: What is the national adaptation role in a climate-constrained future? Wendy Steele, Urban Research Programme, Griffith University (September, 2010) [544 KB, PDF]
CLIMATE CHANGE AND SECURITY: The secure and the damned, Nick Buxton and Ben Hayes, Red Pepper (March 2013)
The climate security discourse is predicated on winners and losers – the secure and the damned – and based on a vision of ‘security’ that envisages disposable people in place of the international solidarity required to face the future in a just and collaborative way. We must be prepared to reclaim the climate adaptation agenda from one based on acquisition through dispossession to one based on universal human rights and the dignity of all people.
- The Global Security Defense Index on climate change: preliminary results, national security perspectives on climate change from around the world, Andrew Holland and Xander Vagg, American Security Project (21 March 2013) [PDF, 956KB]
- Statement for the record, worldwide threat assessment of the US intelligence community, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, James R. Clapper, Director of National Intelligence (12 March 2013) [PDF, 183KB]
- Heavy weather: climate and the Australian Defence Force, Anthony Bergin and Anthony Press, ASPI, Special Report Issue 49 (25 March 2013)
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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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