Clima

World Investment Report 2010 – UNCTAD

Global foreign direct investment (FDI) witnessed a modest, but uneven recovery in the first half of 2010. This sparks some cautious optimism for FDI prospects in the short run and for a full recovery further on. UNCTAD expects global inflows to reach more than $1.2 trillion in 2010, rise further to $1.3–1.5 trillion in 2011,… »

Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2010 – UNESCAP

Even at the height of this crisis, Asia and the Pacific displayed a new-found resilience. Its developing economies achieved an annual growth rate of 4.0%, making it the fastest-growing region in the world, thanks to growth in China and India at 8.7% and 7.2%, respectively. However, the rest of Asia-Pacific’s developing economies contracted in 2009… »

Mexico-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress – CRS

(PDF) – In recent years, U.S.-Mexican relations have grown stronger as the two countries have worked together to combat drug trafficking and secure their shared border. The 111th Congress has maintained an active interest in Mexico with counternarcotics, border, and trade issues dominating the agenda. To date, Congress has appropriated some $1.3 billion in assistance… »

Mekong Tipping Point: Hydropower Dams, Human Security and Regional Stability – Stimson Center

The October 1991 Paris Peace Accords on Cambodia closed the book on four decades of bitter conflict in the Mekong region of Southeast Asia. The Accords created new opportunities for broad-based economic and social development based on reconstruction, renewal and regional economic development in the 795,000 square kilometer Mekong River Basin, sometimes called the… »

The PLA at Home and Abroad: Assessing the Operational Capabilities of China’s Military – SSI

The chapters presented in this volume have demonstrated first, Chinese and PLA leaders have a strong sense of mission and concern for China’s security and well-being. Second, the PLA is committed to the transformation in military affairs with Chinese characteristics. Third, the PLA is eager to learn from the U.S. military to expand and improve… »

The Newly Emerging Arctic Security Environment – Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute (CDFAI)

(PDF) – The Arctic is changing and, as a result, is garnering unprecedented international interest.
With warming temperatures, melting ice and greater accessibility to resources in the region, concerns for security in the region are at the forefront of the Arctic states’ attempts to maintain their foothold in the Arctic. All of the Arctic states –… »

Caucasian Review of International Affairs (CRIA) VOL. 4 (2) – SPRING 2010

in this issue:
Russian Energy Politics and the EU: How to Change the Paradigm

*Authoritarianism and Foreign Policy: The Twin Pillars of Resurgent Russia

*The Georgia Crisis: A New Cold War on the Horizon?

*Enforceability of a Common Energy Supply Security Policy in the EU: Intergovernmentalist Assesement

*“Assembling” a Civic Nation in Kazakhstan: The Nation-Building Role of… »

Iran’s Mini-Empire At The U.N. – Forbes

Iran, despite being under four sets of binding sanctions resolutions by the U.N. Security Council, has learned to manipulate the institution in ways that make a mockery not only of the U.N. itself, but also of U.S. claims of diplomatic competence. Rarely remarked upon, but even more appalling than Iran’s beachhead on the women’s rights… »

The United States Announces Phase II of the Signature Energy Program for Pakistan – US Department of State

After the bilateral Strategic Dialogue meeting in Islamabad today, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Phase II of the U.S. Signature Energy Program for Pakistan that will provide an additional $60 million for seven projects to be implemented by USAID, the U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and… »

The United States Announces the Signature Water Program for Pakistan – US Department of State

After the bilateral Strategic Dialogue meeting in Islamabad today, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced a multi-year Signature Water Program for Pakistan to improve Pakistan’s ability to increase efficient management and use of its scarce water resources and improve water distribution. The first phase of the program will cover seven projects costing over… »

Land grab or development opportunity? Agricultural investment and international land deals in Africa – IIED

Large-scale acquisitions of farmland in Africa, Latin America, Central Asia and Southeast Asia are making headlines in a flurry of media reports across the world. Lands that only a short time ago seemed of little outside interest are now being sought by international investors by the tune of hundreds of thousands of hectares. And while… »

The World’s Ever-Increasing Hunger for Coal – Der Spiegel

Coal-fired power stations are a major producer of the greenhouse gas CO2, but there is no alternative to the fuel in the near future. Energy companies are hoping that carbon capture and storage technologies may be the answer, but many local residents don’t want CO2 stored under their… »

Disaster Politics – Foreign affairs

Governments cannot prevent earthquakes and other natural disasters, but they can prepare for them and ameliorate their effects. Measures to do so are well known. That so many countries in earthquake-prone regions of the world fail to adequately regulate construction, for example, seems to defy logic. It is tempting to suggest that a country’s ability… »

Asia’s Response to Climate Change and Natural Disasters – CSIS

This new report examines the politics of climate change in Asia, the region’s response to natural disasters, and the implications for the future geometry of Asia’s institutions and U.S. policy in the region. The assessment looks broadly at two areas of nontraditional security cooperation in Asia: (1) climate change, including the domestic political factors in… »

Between Faith and Reason: UK Policy Towards the US and the EU – Chatham House

The UK’s relations with the US and the EU are often viewed as alternative paths to international influence, but Britain should adopt a reasoned, balanced approach to its foreign policy, moving beyond the established primacy of the ’special relationship’ to make the most of opportunities in Europe as well. Britain should rethink its traditional faith… »

Russians and Their Crops Wilt Under Heat Wave – the New York Times

A blistering heat wave has made life miserable for millions in Russia and northeastern Europe, few of whom have air conditioners, and destroyed millions of acres of Russian wheat, setting back an agricultural revival that was just reaching its stride after years of faltering… »

Executive Order–Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes – the White House

The ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes provide jobs, food, energy resources, ecological services, recreation, and tourism opportunities, and play critical roles in our Nation’s transportation, economy, and trade, as well as the global mobility of our Armed Forces and the maintenance of international peace and security. This order adopts the recommendations of the… »

Is Haiti Ready for Hurricane Season? – TIME

Meteorologists predict this year’s hurricane season to be an active one. The Haitian government has yet to come up with a unified contingency plan for the hurricane season. Some good news is at hand, however. A few precautionary preparations are well under way. There are plans in place for the distribution of food and other… »

Water Dispute Increases India-Pakistan Tension – the New York Times

Water has become a growing source of tension in many parts of the world between nations striving for growth. Several African countries are arguing over water rights to the Nile. Israel and Jordan have competing claims to the Jordan River. Across the Himalayas, China’s own dam projects have piqued India, a rival for regional, and… »

Concentrating Solar Power in China and India: A Spatial Analysis of Technical Potential and the Cost of Deployment – CGD

Coal power generation in China and India could double and triple, respectively, over the next 20 years, which would increase exposure to fuel price volatility, exacerbate local air pollution, and hasten global climate change. Moving to concentrating solar power (CSP), a growing source of utility-scale, pollution-free electricity, would help alleviate these problems, but its potential… »

Unconventional Gas – A Game Changer For LNG? – MEES

The global gas market is regionally fragmented, with exports being largely driven by pipeline and to much lesser extent LNG. The LNG portion, currently accounting for less than 10% of total gas demand, is of particular relevance to the GCC due to Qatar’s position as the world’s largest supplier. Historically Qatar used to ship its… »

One-third of Yemenis going hungry – IRIN

Water scarcity, rapid population growth and internal conflicts are some of the main factors causing an “alarming state of food insecurity” at national and local levels, a new report has warned. Rural areas are particularly affected with five times as many food-insecure people as in urban areas, it said. “If no action is taken, food… »

Aiming for New Vigour: The UK in the Global Economy – Chatham House

The UK’s role in the world is inextricably linked to its economic strength and prosperity. Maintaining a vibrant economy and financial stability is vital to enable the UK to benefit from global growth and pursue its ambitions at home and abroad. Britain’s international influence, in turn, complements and supports its comparative advantages in global services… »

Green energy market ‘resilient’ to downturn in 2009 – CNN

The creation of new power capacity from renewable energy has exceeded new fossil fuel power generation in the United States and Europe for the second year running, according to two United Nations reports published. Renewables accounted for over 50 percent of new capacity in the U.S. in 2009 while in Europe the figure was 60… »

Arid Australia Sips Seawater, but at a Cost – the New York Times

In one of the country’s biggest infrastructure projects in its history, Australia’s five largest cities are spending $13.2 billion on desalination plants capable of sucking millions of gallons of seawater from the surrounding oceans every day, removing the salt and yielding potable water. In two years, when the last plant is scheduled to be up… »

Gulf of Mexico Fact Sheet – EIA

On April 20, 2010, an explosion and fire occurred on the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, which had been drilling an exploratory well in approximately 5,000 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico, 52 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana. The platform subsequently sank, with 11 crewmembers presumed dead, and the uncompleted well leaking oil…. »

China to move tens of thousands for huge water scheme – Reuters

China will move 345,000 people, mostly poor villagers, within about two years to make way for a vast scheme to draw on rivers in the south to supply the increasingly dry north, an official newspaper said. The forced resettlement for the South-to-North Water Transfer Project will be the biggest China has undertaken since building the… »

Rust in the bread basket – the Economist

A crop-killing fungus is spreading out of Africa towards the world’s great wheat-growing areas… »

A global China policy – ECFR

China now affects every global issue from trade and the economy to climate change and nuclear proliferation, as well as every region from Africa to the Middle East. Europe therefore needs to reframe its China policy in global terms. Instead of thinking of their relationship with China in bilateral terms,
EU member states need to take… »

Black Gold from the Deep – Der Spiegel

Countries worldwide engaged in deep sea oil… »

Industry talks up gas as solution to EU’s energy challenges – EurActiv

Europe should turn to natural gas in its search for the affordable and reliable energy sources of the future, energy company representatives said at the European Business Summit (EBS). The EU must address the twin challenges of cutting its emissions by 20% from 1990 levels by 2020 while securing sufficient energy supplies for the future,… »

The Geopolitics of the iPhone – Fp

Five ways Apple’s new gadget and its cousins are transforming global politics – by Brian… »

Public Sees a Future Full of Promise and Peril – Pew Research Center

Life in 2050: Amazing Science, Familiar Threats. Large majorities of Americans expect that computers will be able to carry on conversations (81% say this definitely or probably will happen) and that there will be a cure for cancer (71%). About two-thirds (66%) say that artificial arms and legs will outperform real limbs while 53% envision… »

The threat of a water war – Boston Globe

Nations fight over water, especially when access is curtailed or threatened, and there are the ingredients for a battle over the 4,100-mile long Nile River. Egypt and Sudan have counted on the abundance of the Nile’s life-giving flow. Now upstream nations want to keep more of the abundance for themselves. Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Congo,… »

Restraint Recalibrating American Strategy – CNAS

The United States needs a sustainable and strategic approach to foreign and defense policy that
recognizes the deepening mismatch between ends and means. Driven by a realist impulse to be the
global enforcer and a moral imperative to act as global savior, the United States remains disproportionately invested in managing international security relative to its limited resources…. »

Energy Company strategies in the Dynamic EU energy market (1995-2007) – Clingendael Institute

Changes in the external environment, like market saturation and security of supply concerns, were insufficiently taken into account when the new market rules were designed. Furthermore, the new market rules were designed as ‘one-size-fits-all’ solutions and as such neglected different starting points between member states. This resulted in a number of inconsistencies between what the… »

Obama More Popular Abroad Than At Home – Pew Research Center

As the global economy begins to rebound from the great recession, people around the world remain deeply concerned with the way things are going in their countries. Less than a third of the publics in most nations say they are satisfied with national conditions, as overwhelming numbers say their economies are in bad shape. And… »

Scarcity of Minerals – HCSS

(PDF) – China is securing its supply of not only oil and gas, but also of minerals, through multi-billion dollar deals with countries worldwide. For some African countries, Chinese investments in mining and mineral extraction are the biggest foreign investments in the country. Among the primary products purchased by China from Latin America are iron… »

Shell Nigeria investment on hold pending reform – Reuters

Royal Dutch Shell has some $40 billion worth of potential investment in deepwater oil projects in Nigeria on hold amid uncertainty over planned reforms to the energy sector. Shell Nigeria said it was difficult to make commitments without clarity over the terms of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), legislation which will change the fiscal and… »

GCC must deal with gas shortage now – Zawya

The hydrocarbon-rich GCC countries now find themselves in an unusual situation – an “almost contradictory position of having to import gas, when they have exported gas for decades”, according to a new report. The six-member GCC countries collectively hold roughly 23 per cent of global gas reserves. According to the report, five factors have combined… »

The Race Against Drug Resistance – CGD

In an increasingly interconnected world, drug resistance does not stop at a patient’s bedside—it threatens global health. It has slowed gains against the fatal ravages of childhood dysentery and pneumonia, drastically increased the costs of fighting tuberculosis and malaria, and imperiled efforts to effectively treat people living with HIV/AIDS. Tens of millions of lives are… »

Tibet’s watershed challenge -Washington Post

The Tibetan Plateau, known to many as the “Third Pole,” is an enormous storehouse of freshwater, believed by some to be the world’s largest. It is the headwaters of many of Asia’s mighty rivers, including the Yellow, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, Brahmaputra, Indus and Sutlej. These vast water resources are of course vulnerable to environmental challenges,… »

Our Common Strategic Interests Africa’s Role in the Post-G8 World – Chatham House

African countries are playing a more strategic role in international affairs. Global players that understand this and develop greater diplomatic and trade relations with African states will be greatly advantaged. For many countries, particularly those that have framed their relations with
Africa largely in humanitarian terms, this will require an uncomfortable shift in public and policy… »

Le Canada, pays nordique, pays arctique – Diploweb

La question de l’évolution de l’Arctique et de ses conséquences est très complexe. De plus, les informations étant limitées et discontinues (et les analyses scientifiques non exhaustives), la base de connaissance est encore très réduite. Il est clair que les régions polaires, individuellement et de concert, jouent un rôle planétaire beaucoup plus large que ce… »

Natural Gas and Israel’s Energy Future – RAND

Israel’s electric-power system needs new capacity to meet the demands of its growing economy. Because of long lead times, Israel will need to make expensive, momentous decisions on investing in new base-load generating capacity in the near future. Those charged with planning as well as those who determine and implement policy need to consider likely… »

African Economic Outlook 2010

The annual African Economic Outlook (AEO) is published jointly by the African Development Bank, the OECD Development Centre and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. he 2010 Outlook covers 50 African countries, up from 47 last year. The AEO presents a promising outlook for the continent with average growth rebounding to 4.5 per cent… »

Sustainable Energy Security – Chatham House

The report looks at short-term (one to five years) and medium-term (five to ten years) risks to general business. It also considers longer-term (ten years plus) issues, particularly as they impact on technological and investment choices for the energy sector. Today, the majority of our heating, power and mobility rely on extractive energy resources. Oil,… »

Climate change and infectious diseases in Europe – EASAC

(PDF) – Climate exerts both direct and indirect effects onthe appearance and spread of human and animalinfectious diseases. The impact of climate changeon the transmission and geographical distribution ofvector-borne diseases, including zoonoses (infectionstransmissible between vertebrate animals andhumans), has been associated with changes in thereplication rate and dissemination of pathogen,vector and animal host populations, which aresensitive… »

Malaria epidemic brews in Venezuela – the Miami Herald

Malaria cases have doubled in Venezuela so far this year as health officials confront an epidemic in a vast southern region where wildcat gold miners are often infected in remote jungle camps.
Health Ministry statistics published this week show there have been 21,601 malaria cases nationwide so far this year, up from 10,758 during the… »

European Neighbourhood Policy – European Commission

The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) was developed in 2004, with the objective of avoiding the emergence of new dividing lines between the enlarged EU and our neighbours and instead strengthening the prosperity, stability and security of all. This ENP framework is proposed to the 16 of EU’s closest neighbours – Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt,… »