Africa: The Wild Cards Offering Climate Hope

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By Roger Williamson

In 2015, the world's governments are meant to sign up to a binding climate change agreement and a new set of development goals, to follow on from the Millennium Development Goals.

At the start of each year, the Economist predicts what to expect in the coming 12 months. This year's edition, The World in 2015, finds a few - actually very few - pages to discuss the prospects for the two agreements. [1]

Yet the most instructive parts are the spaces where The Economist owns up to some of its failed predictions from the year before.

Many different people seem to have been the first to warn us about the dangers of making predictions; especially about the future, because - as the joke runs - those are the ones that often go wrong.

One example is Nobel economics laureate Daniel Kahneman, who said: "Economists ... are quite good at explaining what has happened after it has happened, but rarely before." [2]

It is impossible to predict the outcome of climate change negotiations or calculate the odds of their success with mathematical certainty. The future is open and will surprise us. Wild cards often crop up in policymaking and new political constellations emerge.

But spotting those wild cards as they emerge can suggest the direction negotiations are heading in. I want to identify two such developments, and show how science figures within each.

How science's role is understood by big policy players makes a political difference. To say: "Yes, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is giving us yet another 'last chance' to save the planet", as news media often do, decreases the chances of international agreement by fuelling cynicism or, at best, agnosticism. That message suggests: sit on your hands and wait and see. But once the proof is in, that this was indeed the last chance, it will be too late.

There are better ways to use science than to frighten people into learned helplessness. And the two new sources of policy influence that I see illustrate this, while offering hope and momentum.

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Africa: The Wild Cards Offering Climate Hope

Leading Research and Education Video Publisher Introduces Innovative Behavioral Science product

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Cambridge, MA (PRWEB) January 30, 2015

JoVE announced today the release of its new video collection, Essentials of Behavioral Science. This collection is the latest addition to the JoVE Science Education (SE) product line, an education video database covering a broad range of scientific disciplines, provided to universities and colleges.

JoVE Science Education has revolutionized the way basic science research methods are taught. With JoVE, instructors can easily transfer knowledge of experimental concepts and skills as students view every step of an actual experiment. The result is the increased speed of learning and efficiency of the teaching process.

Created specifically to complement laboratory science curricula, each Science Education collection is made up of 15 unique videos describing basic experimental techniques and 75 peer-reviewed video articles that demonstrate the application of these techniques in real research laboratories.

We are excited to introduce Essentials of Behavioral Science, demonstrating foundational experiments used for studies of memory, learning, addiction and stress, stated Moshe Pritsker, JoVE co-founder and CEO. The power of JoVE science videos as learning tools for the physical and life sciences has been validated by millions of users over the past eight years, and now we can extend this power to educators and students in behavioral sciences.

For more information, e-mail Kathryn.hughes(at)jove(dot)com.

About JoVE JoVE is the leading creator and publisher of video solutions that increase productivity in scientific research and education. JoVE has produced nearly 4,000 videos demonstrating experiments from laboratories at top research institutions and delivered online to millions of scientists, educators and students worldwide. JoVE institutional subscribers comprise nearly 800 universities, colleges, biotech and pharmaceutical companies, including such leaders as Harvard, MIT, Yale, Stanford, Princeton and Caltech. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, JoVE maintains offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. Please visit http://www.jove.com to learn more.

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Leading Research and Education Video Publisher Introduces Innovative Behavioral Science product

NATO Secretary General with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, 29 JAN 2015 – Video

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NATO Secretary General with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, 29 JAN 2015
In talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin on 29 January 2015, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO would continue its strong political and practical support for Ukraine....

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NATO Secretary General with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, 29 JAN 2015 - Video

NATO to Set Up Command Centers on Eastern Flank

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By Dow Jones Business News, January 30, 2015, 07:15:00 AM EDT

BRUSSELS--NATO will establish command centers in six of its eastern countries in coming months, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday, part of a beefed-up response to Russian aggressiveness.

The outposts will form a chain of potential command centers for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's already announced new rapid-response force of roughly 5,000 troops, whose details are to be finalized at a meeting next week of NATO defense ministers.

The centers also will provide a link between NATO and the armed forces of the six countries where they will be located--Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

Mr. Stoltenberg announced the new centers at a news conference in Brussels, where he also urged NATO allies to spend more on defense to counter Russia's military budget. Mr. Stoltenberg also said he would meet with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in the sidelines of a security conference in Munich in two weeks.

"Especially when times are difficult, as they are now, it is important to meet and discuss also difficult issues," Mr. Stoltenberg said.

The command centers are intended partly as a warning to Russia and a reassurance to NATO allies who have become increasingly jittery following Moscow's aggressive actions in Ukraine and elsewhere.

The creation of the spearhead rapid-response force, designed to mobilize within two days in case of a belligerent move by an adversary, is the highest-profile move by NATO to bolster its defenses in the aftermath of Russia's takeover of Crimea and its incursions into eastern Ukraine, which Moscow denies.

"This will be the biggest reinforcement of our collective defense since the end of the Cold War," Mr. Stoltenberg said.

Each command center will likely be staffed by about 50 military personnel from various NATO countries. The outposts are in a sense a compromise between NATO's eastern countries, some of whom want full-scale NATO bases on their territory, and other members wary of building expensive new installations that could provoke Moscow.

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NATO to Set Up Command Centers on Eastern Flank

NATO Deputy Secretary General Holds Talks in Tbilisi

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NATO Deputy Secretary General, Alexander Vershbow, met senior government officials and lawmakers in Tbilisi on January 29 to discuss reforms and implementation of the substantial package of cooperation, which the Alliance offered to Georgia at its summit in Wales.

Setting up of a joint training and evaluation center in Georgia is part of that package.

Georgia and we are committed to have this center up and running later this year, Vershbow said after meeting with PM Irakli Garibashvili.

It will help Georgia to reform, modernize and strengthen security and defense sector and it will also be open to other NATO allies and to some other NATO partners as well since Georgias geography and the high quality of its own armed forces together create unique possibilities to train together broad group of partners and allies and to foster cooperation and interoperability, he said, adding that he will be visiting one of the possible locations of this center on January 30.

It [the joint training center] will also be a visible demonstration of NATOs commitment to Georgia, Vershbow said.

Speaking after meeting with PM Garibashvili, the NATO deputy secretary general hailed Georgia for being exporter of security and for remarkable democratic and defense reforms.

So today we see a more mature democracy here in Georgia, he said. I very much welcome the determination of political leaders of this country to continue to follow along this course. I encourage all parties, all Georgians to cooperate for the benefit of people of this country, making sure that your institutions meet the highest democratic standards. Priority has to be to implement reforms across the board, not only in the defense sector; it means a clear commitment to rule of law, to improving governance at any level, Vershbow said.

PM Garibashvili reiterated that integration into NATO is a firm choice of the Georgian people and we are doing everything in order to achieve this goal.

Also on November 29, NATO deputy secretary general met Defense Minister Mindia Janelidze; State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Davit Bakradze; parliament speaker Davit Usupashvili and senior lawmakers from ruling and opposition parties, as well as representatives of UNM opposition party.

Parliament speaker, Davit Usupashvili, said that Georgia has quite ambitious plans within substantial package of cooperation with NATO.

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NATO Deputy Secretary General Holds Talks in Tbilisi

NATO to deploy units to Baltics, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria

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Lorne Cook, The Associated Press Published Friday, January 30, 2015 8:45AM EST Last Updated Friday, January 30, 2015 10:20AM EST

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- NATO will deploy small units in six Eastern European nations to help co-ordinate a spearhead force set up in response to Russia's actions in Ukraine, the alliance's secretary-general said Friday.

Jens Stoltenberg said the units in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania will be the first of their kind there.

Defence ministers from the 28-nation military alliance will discuss the full force, which can react quickly to any hotspots in Europe, when they meet on Feb. 5.

Stoltenberg said countries responsible for providing the several thousand troops to the force should be known next week.

The forward units will comprise a few dozen troops only. They will plan and organize military exercises, and provide command and control for any reinforcements the force might require.

"They're going to plan, they're going to organize exercises, to provide ... some key command elements for reinforcements," Stoltenberg said.

France, meanwhile, is pledging tanks and armoured vehicles to bolster NATO forces in Poland, where leaders are increasingly uneasy about Russia.

The French military equipment is expected to remain in Poland for two months.

As tensions increased in 2014, NATO forces conducted about 200 military exercises, and Stoltenberg vowed this would continue as the alliance adapts to the increased presence of Russian warplanes in European skies. NATO intercepted more than 400 Russian aircraft last year.

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NATO to deploy units to Baltics, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria

Lt. Gov. Reeves on Second Amendment protections, recognizing military service – Video

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Lt. Gov. Reeves on Second Amendment protections, recognizing military service
Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves outlines his plans to reduce conceal carry permit fees and recognize military training for certain firearm permits in the 2015 session. ...

By: Tate Reeves

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Lt. Gov. Reeves on Second Amendment protections, recognizing military service - Video