Obama's Nuclear Realism

April 24 2009 - In a major foreign policy address in Prague, President Obama declared America's commitment "to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons." The president warned that this goal would not be reached quickly, "perhaps not in my lifetime." Nevertheless, some critics have charged that Obama is caught up in a nuclear disarmament fantasy.

In fact, the president's approach is one of steely-eyed realism. Nuclear weapons present us with a set of bad choices. Obama's choice -- to take nuclear arms control and nonproliferation seriously -- is the one most likely to lead to a secure future.

In one sense, there isn't a choice at all. Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution declares that ratified treaties are the "supreme law of the land," and the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), ratified by the United States almost 40 years ago, commits us to pursue nuclear disarmament. And in fact, a realistic foreign policy will recognize this as an important goal. More >>>

Talk on decade of nuclear learning

South Asian Strategic Stability Institute Islamabad Hosts Security Analysts talk on nuclear lessons.

April 17, 2009 - Effective functioning of nuclear deterrence relies on shared concept of risk and reality and the absence of such a shared concept may undermine the robustness of the deterrence, said Brigadier (r) Feroz Hassan Khan

Brigadier (r) Feroz Hassan Khan, a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California and a renowned security analyst, stated this while delivering a talk on ‘A Decade of Nuclear Learning’ organised by the South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI), a multi-disciplinary institution and an independent think-tank dedicated to promotion of peace and stability in South Asia, on its premises here Thursday.

According to a press release, Brigadier (r) Feroz dilated upon the evolution of Pakistani and Indian policies over the 10-year period since the two countries tested their nuclear weapons in May 1998. He opined that the nuclear learning developed differently in India and Pakistan. The divergent paths, taken by the two countries in the development of nuclear policies and forces, produced dissimilar concept of nuclear deterrence, he said.

Earlier, SASSI Director Maria Sultan welcomed the guests and highlighted the significance of the topic in her opening remarks.

Water Crisis Rocks LA, Mexico City; Who's Next?

WASHINGTON - April 10 2009 -- Water, water hardly anywhere. Water crises are rocking two of the world's largest cities as Mexico City starts a 36-hour water cutoff and Los Angeles is in the midst of a water dearth.

A resident looks on while a city worker delivers her weekly water ration in containers at a low-income neighborhood in Mexico City, Thursday, April 9, 2009 The Mexican capital, one of the most densely populated cities in the world, cut in water supply to a historic fall in reserves, a measure that affects at least five million people, according to authorities. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

The problem, however, is far wider than two of the most populous cities in the Western Hemisphere. Beijing, the capital of China, has a serious water shortage. The Israelis and the Palestinians are at loggerheads over control of the key aquifers west of the River Jordan that are vital to sustain both peoples. An unprecedented world population of 6.8 billion people -- more than three times that of 80 years ago -- and the inexorable reality of global climate change are guaranteed to make the long-term crisis worse.

The cutoff in Mexico affects about a quarter of the capital city's residents -- 5 million people. Mexico City instituted a five-month rationing plan in January with the Thursday-Friday cutoff this week deemed necessary to fix a leaky supply system and to ease -- somewhat -- a supply problem that began when the lakes that once flooded the city were drained 40 years ago.
The leaks problem is not small. Half of Mexico City's water supply is lost through lousy infrastructure alone -- primarily through leaking pipes.
The change in weather patterns over the North American continent has taken its toll too, just as it did in Los Angeles. More >>>

The Peak Oil Crisis: Priorities

Thursday, 09 April 2009 11:24 - In the next few years, most of us are going to have to make many important decisions that will profoundly affect the rest of our lives. How soon these decisions come will depend on one's individual circumstances.

If you are one of the millions who have lost their jobs or homes in the last year then you already know that something is happening. Returning to the way we have lived for the last 100 years simply is not in the cards. The world is entering a great paradigm shift and our place in it will be markedly different 10 or 20 years from now. The most alarming thing to remember is that 95 percent of us have not discovered that major changes are underway and are waiting for economic recovery and new jobs to open up.

A professor out in California just published a paper concluding that the current economic downturn was caused as much by the $147 oil we saw last summer as it was by the bursting of the housing and credit bubbles. It doesn't much matter if he is right or not. What is important, however, is that hardly a day goes by without another major oil production project being delayed or cancelled due to low prices. The death spiral for the oil age has begun.

The U.S. is currently losing about 600,000 jobs a month. If we did the bookkeeping a bit more honestly, to account for the discouraged or those forced into part-time work, the real total is probably closer to 1 million a month. This hemorrhage may slow for a time when our trillion dollar stimulus catches hold, but there is nothing out there to suggest that spending borrowed or printed money for a year or two is going to turn anything around. The trends all suggest that unemployment is going to continue rising and that social unrest is not very far away.

Someday, many years or decades from now, all this is going to stabilize. Just what the world will look like is impossible to forecast. Will there still be 6.7 billion of us around or will the world's population have declined from deteriorating climate conditions and a lack of food. The only thing for sure is that there is going to be a lot less fossil fuel around to do the heavy work for us. More >>

Biden to oversee administration's nuclear nonproliferation effort

WASHINGTON -April 8, 2009 - Vice President Joseph Biden has been put in charge of the administration's nuclear nonproliferation agenda, including President Obama's goal of securing vulnerable nuclear material around the world over the next four years, and efforts to persuade Congress to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which would ban new nuclear explosions.

"As a measure of the president's continuing commitment to this vital nonproliferation agenda, he has asked for Vice President Joe Biden's help to lead the administration's nonproliferation efforts," James Steinberg, the deputy secretary of state, told a packed luncheon of diplomats and nonproliferation specialists Monday at a conference sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington-based think tank. More >>>

Climber takes climate change message to the top of the world

Apa Sherpa will carry a WWF banner with the inscription “Stop Climate Change - Let the Himalayas Live!” up to the 8,848 metres high summit.

06 Apr 2009 - KATHMANDU, Nepal – A sherpa set off to climb Mount Everest for a record 19th time to take an anti-climate change message to the world’s highest peak.

Apa Sherpa will carry a WWF banner with the inscription “Stop Climate Change - Let the Himalayas Live!” and a metal vase containing 400 Buddhist offerings up to the 8,848 metres high summit.

Nepal is on the front line of climate change and its effects are visible from the tops of the freezing Himalayas in the north, to the hot lowland plains of the south.

Its glaciers, from where many rivers originate, are shrinking due to rising temperatures threatening the lives of millions of people who depend on them for water. More >>>