Top Five Blog Posts of 2011

As we approach the end of the year, it is interesting to
reflect on what issues and topics have been the most popular on the blog. Here
are the top 5 blog posts of 2011 that our readers were drawn to.

1. Smart
Grid Cyber Security Week

Christine Parthemore kicked off
our weekly series on smart grid and cyber security by dispelling some of the
myths about smart grid technology and its cyber vulnerabilities, and gives a
brief overview of some of the U.S. government efforts to mitigate and manage
the risks that exist.

2. To
Secure U.S. Interests in the Arctic, Ratifying UNCLOS is Key   

In
this blog post, I discuss how American interests can be strengthened by
ratifying the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, particularly because
ratifying UNCLOS would help protect U.S. economic interests and strengthen
America’s international role in managing emerging challenges such as
territorial disputes in the Arctic and the South China Sea.   

3. Resource
Hungry: China’s Strategic Hand in Africa

Former CNAS intern Bailey Culp discusses China’s growing interests in
Africa and cautions that Chinese development in Africa could have future
diplomatic and economic implications for the United States.

4. Egypt’s
Revolution: Resources Edition

Christine Parthemore writes about
the role of food prices and other natural resources in Egypt’s Arab Spring
uprising and ousting of Hosni Mubarak in February.

5. In
Yemen, Water, Fuel and Food Prices Rise as Political Crisis Worsens

In this post, I examine the role
that water, fuel and food prices play in exacerbating Yemen’s political
turmoil, noting that whatever one’s analytical scope is for assessing Yemen’s
political crisis, resource challenges cannot be ignored.