Security Implications of Climate Change

A couple of years ago at a conference in New York, I tried out a theory I had been developing: What if climate change presents a security threat in terms of a confluence of oil dependence, funding to terrorists, displacement of people, and changing water supplies, arable land, and strategic choke points. Certainly, I thought, the combination of poverty, terrorist groups, and the presence of people with new, powerful grievances are an explosive mix. My co-panelists looked at me in bewilderment.

Now it seems the idea is coming into its own, if it's not too late. At a UN meeting I attended yesterday, I asked a UN official whether member states and her colleagues were focusing on the effects of climate change. Her only answer was that everyone was doing their best to make the Copenhagen meeting a success. There didn't seem to be any thought given on preparing for the inevitable impact of climate change. We all have a responsibility to slow climate change but we also have a responsibility to prepare for its impact.

But there are many who understand the gravity of the problem. This afternoon, the Truman National Security Project and Operation Free hosted a conference call with Senator John Kerry on the security implications of climate change. I recommend everyone take a look at Operation Free's excellent website, which contains a ton of information on the possible threats from climate change. The message of the call was that in the past the United States had led by rank on these issues; now, it must lead by example. One officer said that we cannot wait for 100 percent certainty on what climate change means before we act on the threat. The time for action is now.

Senator Kerry's message was that American soldiers in Afghanistan have already reported on the visible threats related to climate change, including desertification and drought in areas that are vulnerable to extremist groups. General Zinni has said that climate change will involve the military and the loss of human life. Some of the points Senator Kerry mentioned were:

- The growing desert in Sudan against the backdrop of the need for firewood, worsening the desert
- The acute need for water in the Middle East where only 2 percent of the world's water is located
- The melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas that provide water to billions of people; the glaciers may be gone in 20 years.
- The rising oceans and their devestation to island nations
- The destruction of fishing grounds
- The predicted displacement of some 100 million people form climate change
- The anticipated increased migration of Mexicans to the United States
- The increased spread of diseases
- The disappearance of forests in Colorado
- The continued money from oil funding petro-states, autocrats, and extremists
- The dependence on (and shifting) strategic choke points like the Malacca Strait

If these threats were not enough, the arguments to take leadership include: the positive economic impact of investing in clean energy; the health benefits of reducing pollution; and the ethical responsibility to future generations.

Photo of Sudanese desert by tomallen.

Emmanuel Jal: WARchild takes the mic

The tracks on rapper Emmanuel Jal’s major label debut, WARchild, are a bit frenetic, drawing more inspiration from the syncopated rhythms of African pop than the beat-heavy ethic of American hip-hop. The reason is simple: Jal isn’t a product of the concrete jungle, but the actual one.


A native of southern Sudan, Jal was forced into the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) at the age of six. After five years of fighting, he escaped to neighboring Kenya with the aid of a British relief worker, Emma McCune. Now in his late twenties (like many child soldiers, Jal is unsure of his actual age), he is drawing attention for his musical talent as well as his captivating life-story.

At last month’s 46664 concert in London celebrating Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday, Peter Gabriel called Jal “a young Bob Marley.”

“[He] came out of the horror of a brutal war, a brutal childhood with a clear voice calling out against violence, hatred and materialism. He’s going to have a huge influence in the world way beyond his music,” said Gabriel.

This is already happening. A documentary about Jal, also titled War Child, has been making the rounds on the international film festival circuit. He has been a spokesman for Amnesty International and the Make Poverty History campaign. He is founder of Gua, a charity devoted to education and sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa.

For more on Emmanuel Jal, read Emily Geminder's profile on Policy Innovations.

photo of Emmanueal Jal at 46664 in London by p_c_w

The Fiasco over Omar Al-Bashir, President of Sudan + Jamaat-e-Islami Responds with Protests.

Prosecutors in The International Criminal Court(ICC) wants to issue a warrant to arrest the President of Sudan.. Some sort of joke.. they want to charge him with genocide and crimes against humanity..

Well I have personally met with people from Darfur.. I dont really know what to believe.. different people say different things.. but a theme that keeps coming about is that the issue of racial difference between Arabs and Africans is not really the source of the conflict at all..
it seems though that the government has been seriously mad about the way they deal with things.. From other cases not necessarily Darfur.

Apparently Darfur, use to be where Egyptians got most of there Gold…so it had a lot of gold, ivory and was fertile climate.. Well now it has a lot of Oil, and Uranium too..

Other than that Sudan is one of those countries that stand in the face of the west…
So ICC just happened to forget about Bush and Bliar.. Leading an illegal warfare by the ICC standards.. Not to mention Guantanamo bay and abu ghraib.. No one was issues a warrant against yet even convicted of anything….

Obviously they just setting the ground for any future possibility of invading Sudan… perhaps since Iran seems like a far fetched goal..
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Whats cool however is Jamaat-e-Islami of Pakistan carried out protests in Lahore chanting ant--American slogans and advocating Jihad against America. They are usually the first to protest for the pains of Muslimeen anywhere around the world.. I googled news on it to give you folks a link.. But didn’t find any it was on aljazeera though..

Olympic sponsors concerned about image problem

The Wall Street Journal reports today that Hollywood director Steven Spielberg's decision yesterday to resign as an adivser the 2008 Olympics in Beijing could signal a turning point in the effort to shame China for its ongoing relationship with the governement of Sudan. Growing numbers of athletes and entertainers are joining human rights activists in pressuring advertisers to justify their association with the controversial games.

For corporate sponsors, the stakes are high. The opening ceremonies are expected to be the first television sporting event watched live around the world by more than one billion people. In some cases, sponsors have shelled out more than $80 million for the rights to associate themselves with the Beijing Games. And as the first Olympics in China, the event is being used by multinational brands as an opportunity to build credibility with a booming consumer market that is playing an increasingly important role in their global sales.

June Teufel Dreyer, a China specialist at the University of Miami told Evan Osnos of the Chicago Tribune that advertisers "want to get their logos in front of the spectators [and] they will say that the Olympics are about sport, not politics." Dreyer added that she didn't expect any widescale pullout of advertising dollars from the events big corporate sponsors such as McDonalds and Coca-Cola.

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photo by nimboo (CC)

Spielberg directs a hit (at China)

Steven Spielberg has earned acclaim for cinematic depictions of moral courage in films like Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. Now he is being praised for a real-life act of public heroism.

The Oscar-winning director of Jaws and E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial had been enlisted by the Chinese government to lend the opening and closing ceremonies of the upcoming Beijing Olympics a little Hollywood razzle-dazzle. This week, he withdrew from that role, citing China's continuing support of the Sudanese government. "I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue with business as usual," he said in a statement.

At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies but doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur.

China has defied intense international pressure to cease buying Sudanese oil and halt the sale of arms to the regime of Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Bashir's government is acccused of atrocities in the Darfur region of western Sudan.

This embarrassing public reprimand from a major international personality has predictably annoyed the Beijing government. The Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC responded with a statement of its own.

As the Darfur issue is neither an internal issue of China, nor is it caused by China, it is completely unreasonable, irresponsible and unfair for certain organizations and individuals to link the two as one.

Mary-Anne Toy reports in the Australian daily The Age that a recent editorial published in People's Daily, the official newspaper of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, took a defiant tone toward critics of its Sudan policy:

"The international community knows quite well that China has exerted a positive and constructive influence on the Darfur issue," the editorial said, pointing to the deployment of China's troops on the UN-African Union hybrid peacekeeping missions in Darfur. "No country has a perfect human rights record … the practice of politicising the Olympic Games will distort the Olympic spirit and will be denounced by peace-loving and sports-loving individuals all around the world."

Indeed, British Olympics Secretary Tessa Jowell and Culture Secretary Andy Burnham quickly denounced Spielberg's move as unhelpful. "Our position is always one of constructive engagement, working to improve the situation in the country and raise issues around the world and that’s what we will, as the Government, continue to do," said Burnham.

But many more, including Human Rights Watch, have lined up in support of the famous director's decision.
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photo by nimboo (CC)