Center of Innovation for Science, Technology and Peacebuilding
Table of Contents
- At Nuclear Conference, U.S. Expects Little, Gains Little (Washington Post, 5/31/10)
- A Stone's Throw from Nile, Egypt's Taps Are Running Dry (AFP, 5/31/10)
- Rhetoric Grows Heated in Water Dispute between India, Pakistan (Washington Post, 5/28/10)
- Inside the Air Force’s Secret PsyOps Plane (Wired.com, 5/27/10)
- World's Scientists sans Frontieres (The Australian, 5/26/10)
At Nuclear Conference, U.S. Expects Little, Gains Little
It didn't end in failure. That was perhaps the best the U.S. government could boast about a month-long conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which ended Friday in New York. President Obama has made a priority of strengthening the treaty, which is in danger of unraveling after decades of curtailing the spread of nuclear weapons. Much of his ambitious nuclear agenda has been undertaken with an eye toward demonstrating U.S. compliance with the pact.
See the full article (Washington Post, Mary Beth Sheridan, 5/31/10)
Click to read "Iran Sanctions" by USIP's Daniel Brumberg, George Lopez and Robin Wright
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A Stone's Throw from Nile, Egypt's Taps Are Running Dry
Thousands living [in Egypt] suffer supply and sanitation problems as their government becomes increasingly entangled in a war over water with up-river nations. Egypt has dominated the Nile for decades and refuses, along with neighbouring Sudan, to sign a new pact the other countries say would lead to more equitable sharing. In an attempt to secure larger shares of the precious resource, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda all signed the agreement earlier this month.
See the full article (AFP, Natacha Yazbeck, 5/31/10)
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Rhetoric Grows Heated in Water Dispute between India, Pakistan
The latest standoff between India and Pakistan features familiar elements: perceived Indian injustices, calls to arms by Pakistani extremists. But this dispute centers on something different: water. Militant organizations traditionally focused on liberating Indian-held Kashmir have adopted water as a rallying cry, accusing India of strangling upstream rivers to desiccate downstream farms in Pakistan's dry agricultural heartland.
See the full article (Washington Post, Karin Brulliard, 5/28/10)
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Inside the Air Force’s Secret PsyOps Plane
Name a recent U.S. military operation, and you can pretty much guarantee that a specially modified Air Force plane was somewhere in the vicinity, trying to influence the minds of the people below. The 193rd Special Operations Wing operates a fleet of three of these EC-130J aircraft, cargo haulers that have been converted into flying radio and television stations. These “psychological operations” aircraft can broadcast their own signal over AM and FM radio, UHF and VHF television bands — or override broadcast stations on the ground, something they apparently did during operations in Bosnia and Iraq.
See the full article (Wired.com, Nathan Hodge, 5/27/10)
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World's Scientists sans Frontieres
Science is contributing to the responses to the chief challenges and opportunities of our time, issues such as climate change, energy and food security, which are by their very nature global. In this context, the idea of "science diplomacy" has recently regained currency as a concept useful in navigating the role of science in addressing global policy priorities at the same time as science itself is globalising.
See the full article (The Australian, Paul Harris, 5/26/10)
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