A recent article in The Economist discussed the effect that rising food prices played in the unrest leading up to the Arab Awakening, and how efforts to combat high food prices continue to affect governments in the Middle East. Record prices during the global food crisis of 2007-2008 brought unprecedented food riots to countries like […]
The good: Those many small incremental improvements in securing nuclear materials worldwide–the fruit of much labor by dedicated people, as laid out by Jodi Lieberman in a recent post. The bad: The absence of any evident progress in dissuading North Korea from a satellite launch, which, if it occurs, will vitiate the earlier agreement with […]
Just as the self-congratulatory communiques have been issued in Seoul and pats on the back for a job well done have been distributed, Steven E. Miller has lobbed a wrench in the works. In his very timely essay for the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, entitled Nuclear Collisions: Discord, Reform & the Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime, Miller describes […]
Okay, the U.S. may have been the first to the moon, but we have not been the first to regulate greenhouse gases. However, we’re getting there. California has been advancing its cap-and-trade regime among other terrific programs, we’ve got the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in the Northeast and there are all sorts of other programs […]
One does not have to look hard to find publications or experts pronouncing or describing an America in decline. They have now become ubiquitous and in many circles pass for the conventional wisdom of the day. In a similar vein, it is not that hard to find arguments that other countries, particularly China, have a […]
The month of March is one of ups and downs – we should beware the Ides but then cut loose on St Patrick’s Day; remember victims of slavery and detained/missing UN staff members – and also celebrate women, women’s achievements and progress. Women Deliver, an NGO working globally to generate political commitment and financial investment […]
After pledging $1 million to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Nuclear Security Fund in Seoul, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made his case for India’s admission into four key export control regimes: the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the Wassenaar Arrangement, and the Australia Group. To paraphrase Yogi […]
What James Cameron and SpaceX tell us about the Future of Global Power James Cameron’s solo journey into the ocean’s deepest recesses is being hailed as a tale of personal daring and scientific adventure. But it also holds a lesson relevant to the debate about whether the global hierarchy is being reshuffled and to what […]
Two decades ago, the Baltic States became politically independent from Moscow. Their energy independence has yet to occur. In Lithuania, Russia’s Gazprom remains the sole supplier of natural gas to the nation of 3.2 million, Obviously, this gives Russia quite a bit of leverage in Lithuania post-independence – February in Vilnius is much more pleasant […]
When you hear people in Israel talking about Iran these days, the hot topic is not whether there will be war or not. It’s whether they have showed any love to, or got any love from, and Iranian. As sappy as it sounds, it’s the truth. At the center of the new fashion in showing […]
Amid the looming specters of a North Korean missile launch, Fukushima clean-up and an ever-saber-rattling Iran, the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit is under way. This year’s summit promises another raft of commitments, initiatives and communique-issuing. The very thought of sherpas, sous-sherpas and other underlings toiling for nearly two years on a workable agenda and […]
It’s been quite a week in West Africa. As mentioned earlier this month, Mali is facing its share of troubles since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in neighboring Libya. Observers knew that the return of Tuareg fighters from Libya would likely increase tensions in northern Mali and perhaps lead to a new Tuareg rebellion. However […]
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