Center for a New American Security

Defense News @Defense_news: “DoD Officials Urge U.S. to Join Sea Treaty bit.ly/LhUsZr.”

Defense News reports on a forum on the Law of the Sea Convention hosted by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Atlantic Council that featured keynote addresses by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and General Martine Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who both urged the U.S. Senate to ratify the Law of the Sea Convention in order to safeguard American interests and U.S. Armed Forces.

MIT Professor M. Taylor Fravel @fravel: “Chinese boats barring Pinoys from fishing in shoal | Philippine Starj.mp/J0qbyu.”

Dr. Fravel links to a story in the Philippine Star that reports that Chinese maritime vessels have imposed fishing restrictions on Filipino fisherman in an area approximately 120-nautical miles off the coast of the Philippine island Luzon, an area that would be considered within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone.

World Bank @WorldBank: “The global urban population is set to double by 2030. How are we going to provide energy to all these people? Blog: cot.ag/J1JALX.”

The World Bank tweets a blog post about the implications of a growing urban population for sustainable energy development and urges innovative thinking about how to provide electricity to the urban poor, a necessary condition for development and stability in many countries.

Global INT @globalint2040: “China Begins Deepwater Drilling In South China Seaibtimes.com/articles/33818… via@SoutheastAsiaDC.”

Global INT links to a story in the International Business Times that provides more details about China’s foray into deep-sea drilling, an issue I covered here on the blog yesterday.

The Diplomat @Diplomat_APAC: “#Laos reassures its neighbors that work on the Xayaburi dam is on hold. But there are some mixed signals.bit.ly/IPNwpB.”

The Diplomat reports on mixed messages coming from Laos about its upstream damming activity, which may be contributing to food insecurity, particularly by affecting fish resources.