Asia & the Pacific

Joseph Nye argues hat the major threat to U.S. power comes from its internal divisions. These are serious liabilities but they were not created by the invasion of Ukraine.

Joseph Nye argues that prudence results from the fear of creating unintended consequences in unpredictable systems and can develop into a norm of nonuse or limited use of certain weapons or a norm of limiting targets. Something like this happened with nuclear weapons when the superpowers came close to the brink of nuclear war in 1962, during the Cuban missile crisis. The Limited Test Ban Treaty followed a year later.

John P. Holdren, science advisor to the Obama administration, lists 6 things he thinks Joe Biden would do on climate change.

Technological innovation and widespread deployment of clean-energy technologies in emerging economies are critical for a global clean energy transition. Success or failure in this endeavour will have long-term energy and carbon consequences. A fundamental question exists about whether, and how, emerging economies can accelerate clean-energy transitions, given the unprecedented scales of their impending socio-economic and infrastructure transitions, and often-underdeveloped technological innovation capabilities and supporting finances. 

Joseph Nye writes that the world is increasingly obsessed with the ongoing power struggle between the United States and China. But the technology-driven shift of power away from states to transnational actors and global forces brings a new and unfamiliar complexity to global affairs.

If Joe Biden defeats Donald Trump in November, the question he will face is not whether to restore the liberal international order. It is whether the United States can work with an inner core of allies to promote democracy and human rights while cooperating with a broader set of states to manage the rules-based international institutions needed to face transnational threats.

In this episode of Resources Radio, host Daniel Raimi talks with David Keith, a physics and public policy professor at Harvard University and one of the world's leading experts on solar geoengineering. Keith outlines prominent examples of solar geoengineering technologies in development—from ambitious ideas, such as sending aerosols to the stratosphere, to more operational solutions, like painting roofs white to reflect more sunlight into space. An advocate for research on solar geoengineering, Keith discusses how coalitions among like-minded nations and clearer guidance from policymakers could expand deployment of promising technologies.

Bruce Schneier writes that the whole point of modern surveillance is to treat people differently, and facial recognition technologies are only a small part of that.

Bruce Schneier writes that the 5G network has plenty of security weaknesses, including ones the United States doesn’t want to fix since they help its own surveillance efforts.

Bruce Schneier writes that when it comes to 5G technology, a trustworthy system needs to be built out of untrustworthy parts.  It is not even really known how to build secure systems out of secure parts, let alone out of parts and processes that aren't trustworthy and that are almost certainly being subverted by governments and criminals around the world.