HOMELAND SECURITY NEWSWIRE: Secretary Clinton Demands Libya Return Lockerbie Bomber to Prison

Published 27 October 2011

courtesy of americanglob.com

Now that the fighting in Libya has drawn to a close with the death of Muammar Qaddafi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is pressing the new Libyan government to return the only individual convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103; Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al Megrahi, was convicted and jailed in Scotland for the Lockerbie bombing which killed 259 people, mostly Americans; in 2009 Scotland released him on the grounds that he had been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer and only had three months to live; al Megrahi returned to Libya where he has been living since; over the weekend Clinton said, "We want to see him returned to prison, preferably in Scotland, where he was serving the sentence"

DISASTER INSURANCE: Disasters Take Toll on PartnerRe’s Profits

Published 3 August 2011

PartnerRe Ltd,
Beijing,China

On Monday PartnerRe Ltd., the international reinsurer, announced that its second quarter earnings fell 35 percent as a result of the devastating natural disasters that struck around the world.

PartnerRe’s first quarter earnings also fell in large part due to the earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand as well as the particularly destructive tornado season in the United States.

Costas Miranthis, the company’s CEO, remained optimistic and said that PartnerRe’s other businesses “[continue] to perform well and its capital position is strong, despite the heavy costs from this year’s natural disasters.

In June, PartnerRe was downgraded slightly by Fitch Ratings due to its catastrophic losses that hurt shareholder equity more than most other reinsurers. Fitch Ratings added that while PartnerRe has had a strong record of profits over an extended period of time, the company’s earnings have fluctuated more than a higher rating merits. The ratings company also does not forecast a net profit for PartnerRe this year.

In the second quarter, PartnerRe generated $124.2 million in profits, compared to $190.9 million for the same period last year.

The company’s revenues increased slightly to $1.35 billion, up 1.5 percent, but net premiums fell 5.1 percent to $1.06 billion.  Read more

Looking for Help: Will Rising Democracies Become International Democracy Supporters?

Thomas Carothers, Richard YoungsCARNEGIE PAPER, JULY 2011

The emergence of a multipolar world gives Western democracy advocates cause for both optimism and anxiety. China’s success sparks fears of the spread of an autocratic development model. Yet democratic states such as Brazil, Indonesia, India, South Africa, and Turkey are also gaining ground. These countries serve as powerful examples of the universal appeal of democracy and possess unique experiences with democratization. The United States and Europe understandably hope that rising democracies will use their growing prominence to defend democratic values abroad, potentially revitalizing international democracy support. 

Rising democracies, however, are often reluctant to publicly embrace a democracy and human rights agenda. Most of them are exponents of the pro-sovereignty, anti-interventionist approach to international politics. They emphasize inclusive cooperation among developing countries and are disinclined to confront autocratic leaders. They are also habitually wary of Western, especially U.S., intentions in the developing world and thus frequently suspicious of Western democracy promotion.  Read more

NUCLEAR > Nuclear Safety Journal Launched

Published 7 July 2011

Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima: for the third time in twenty-five years a nuclear power plant suffered a serious accident, precipitating a global review of the way to govern nuclear safety and security; a publisher of scientific journal is launching a new journal -- International Journal of Nuclear Safety and Security (IJNSS) -- which will offer a forum for the serious discussion of nuclear power plants' safety

pThree Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima: for the third time in twenty-five years a nuclear power plant suffered a serious accident, precipitating a global review of the way to govern nuclear safety and security.

The 11 March Fukushima accident was especially poignant because it came during — and may well put an end to — what was correctly termed a Nuclear Renaissance: as worries about climate change and the volatility of oil prices grew, interest in nuclear power generation was rekindled.

InderScience Publishers is launching a new journal — teInternational Journal of Nuclear Safety and Security (IJNSS) — which aims to address the growing interest in, and concern about, nuclear safety.

The publisher says that the international community must learn from these accidents in order to improve international co-operation, both in terms of crisis management and prevention of risks. IJNSS will provide an opportunity to exchange information on the implications of safe and secure operation of nuclear power plants and approaches taken by countries worldwide.   Full article

Among the topics which will be covered by the new journal:

• Strategic, managerial, organizational issues; total quality management (TQM) and environmental management
• Macroeconomics, nuclear economics and business
• Technological advances, issues, innovation, hazards; role of information and communication technologies (ICTs)
• Analysis/assessment methodologies, performance measurement
• Governance, policy strategy, assessment, review
• National/international environmental protection policy; ecosystem research
• Ecological/environmental impacts; risk assessment/legal aspects of pollution
• Waste disposal strategies; clean technologies
• Energy security and risk assessment; policy, standards and regulations
• Critical infrastructures design, protection, management
• Risk assessment, control, characterization, perception, communications, models
• Integrated risk assessment and safety management
• Nuclear systems management, transport, resource development, power quality
• Public policy, regulations, governance and nuclear use; public attitudes
• Knowledge based policies and education; knowledge transfer

WIKISTRAT > A Revolution in Geostrategy

[This article describes the Wikistrat’s International Grand Strategy Competition (first week out) hosted by WIKISTRAT - where the world's greatest futurists/strategists come together to strategize about the future in 5 very focused and pertinent issues...]

Grand Strategy Competition Update

THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2011 AT 5:45AM

As head judge of Wikistrat’s International Grand Strategy Competition, I wanted to highlight some of the takeaways that we’ve already gathered in the first week of the contest.  As you may already know, the competition brings together more than 30 teams comprised of PhD and masters students from elite international schools and world-renowned think tanks.  Those teams, evenly distributed over a dozen or so countries (so as to encourage intra-country as well as inter-country competition), are being challenged to come up with long-term grand strategies in relation to five issues:  global energy security, global economic “rebalancing,” Jihadist terrorism, the Sino-American relationship and nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.  

Nuclear > Interpol Stands Up Nuclear Counterterrorism Unit

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Interpol on Wednesday said it has a established a unit to take on terrorism threats involving nuclear, radiological and other unconventional materials (seeGSN, Sept. 28, 2010).

The Radiological and Nuclear Terrorism Prevention Unit "crucially will expand the world police body’s antibioterrorism activities to take in chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNe) threats by using an integrated approach that leverages international partnerships and expertise across all sectors," according to an Interpol release (see GSN, Feb. 24, 2010).

The update acknowledges the dangers that weapons of mass destruction pose to the 188 nations that participate in Interpol, organization Secretary General Ronald Noble said during a conference in Lyon, France, on preventing nuclear and radiological terrorism.

“Only one week after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the United States was struck once again with the ‘anthrax case’, in which a single individual with scientific knowledge and access to the right biological strain was able to murder five people, injure 17 and temporarily shut down the entire mail system of the United States for an estimated loss of $1 billion, while terrorizing other countries in the process,” he said.

The primary goal of the event and of the new unit, Noble said, is “to build police capacity globally, to prevent the next bioterrorist attack. This objective requires police to have at its side the public, private and scientific sectors together as one in order to successfully address the whole threat spectrum."

One database developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Interpol and other organizations lists in excess of 2,500 incidents linked to the illicit movement of nuclear and radiological materials, the Interpol release states.

The updated counter-WMD effort at Interpol "will combine intelligence analysis via global information sharing, capacity building and training, and will also provide operational supporrt through the deployment of specialized teams," the organization said (Interpol release, May 18).