New Realities: Energy Security In The 2010s and Implications for The U.S. Military
Abstract : Global energy markets are undergoing dramatic shifts. Developing countries are beginning to outpace their more developed counterparts in energy demand, the result not simply of higher economic growth rates in the former, but also due to increased efficiency in the latter. Traditional producers of hydrocarbons in places such as Latin America, Eurasia, North Africa, and the Middle East face a host of political, economic, technical, and societal challenges that could potentially lead to major disruptions in the global energy supply. Meanwhile, the unconventional fossil fuels revolution has led to major changes in the flow of the global energy supply, seemingly overnight. All of these changes will have implications for U.S. security generally and the U.S. military specifically. Evolving energy-based U.S. national interests in Africa or the Middle East may shape the degree to which the U.S. military becomes involved in political or humanitarian crises in those regions. Tightening energy supplies may alter fundamentally the way in which the United States wields military force in a contingency operation. And closer to home, increasingly vulnerable domestic energy infrastructure may undermine military installation operations and security. To further investigate the changes among energy producers and consumers and to subsequently assess the implications for the U.S. military, the Strategic Studies Institute the research arm of the U.S. Army War College organized a conference in November 2013 entitled, New Realities: Energy Security in the 2010s and Implications for the U.S. Military. That event, which included North American and European experts from government, the military, academia, the private sector, and think tanks, was hosted by the Reserve Officers Association in Washington, DC, and funded through the generous support of the U.S. Army War College Foundation.
Global flows: Terror, oil & strategic philanthropy
US involvement in Africa is growing following threats of terrorism and interruptions in oil production and because of desires by foreign corporations to expand their activities on the continent. The response of American policymakers has been to establish a stronger military presence that will engage in counterterrorism initiatives and police oil installations. The goals and extent of this buildup, and the ideology legitimating it, are new. They are departures from Cold War policies. Similarly, the response of American business leaders to weaknesses in the infrastructure and political order of African states leads them to establish their own forms of community development, known as strategic philanthropy, in order to protect and expand local markets. Despite these major developments, the media are not informing the public. This article examines the implications of these military and business initiatives for African nations and the reasons for lack of information about them. Editor's Note: This article was delivered as the presidential address to the African Studies Association, New Orleans, 12 November 2004. It first appeared in the African Studies Review, Vol. 47, No. 5, April 2005:1–22, the principal scholarly journal of that Association. On the role of the US in Africa, also see Daniel Volman, ‘US Military Involvement in Africa’ and Michel Chossudovsky, ‘New Undeclared Arms Race: America's Agenda for Global Military Domination’ in ROAPE 103, March 2005.
Germination ecology of Central Asian Stipa spp: differences among species, seed provenances, and the importance of field studies
Stipa-species are wide-spread in Central Asia, but sexual reproduction in the dry steppes is rare. To facilitate conservation and restoration of these important rangelands, we studied germination characteristics of three common Mongolian Stipa-species under field- and lab conditions. Seeds of Stipa krylovii, Stipa gobica and Stipa glareosa were sown at the study site in Southern Mongolia over two consecutive years during which period tests were carried out to ascertain whether competition or herbivory are the main constraints of seedling establishment. In addition, we tested germination and seed viability in the laboratory under two different temperature regimes (20/10°C and 8/4°C), as well as the effect of cold-stratification. The lab experiments also included S. krylovii seeds originating from three climatically different provenances. None of the three Stipa-species seedlings emerged during the first 2 years of the field study. However, after an unusually intense rain event in the third year, 3% of S. krylovii, 0.6% of S. glareosa and 0.1% of S. gobica seeds germinated in the study plots. The factors ‘sowing-year’ and ‘vegetation’ significantly affected seedling emergence, whereas grazing had no effect at all. Under laboratory conditions a high percentage of viable seeds of S. gobica and S. glareosa germinated at both incubation temperatures, and cold-stratification had no effect on germination or viability. Germination of S. krylovii seeds required warmer temperatures and cold-stratification had a positive effect. Such evidence for dormancy was more pronounced in seeds from the moister, northern provenances. Germination of Stipa-species in the field is rare and only possible under exceptionally moist conditions. Conservation should thus concentrate on steppe conservation rather than on restoration. Where artificial reseeding is necessary, differences among species and also among different seed provenances should be taken into account.