ARTICLE – When the Soviet Union collapsed, European nations grabbed the “peace dividend,” drastically shrinking their defense budgets, their armies and their arsenals.
With the rise of al-Qaida nearly a decade later, terrorism became the target, requiring different military investments and lighter, more expeditionary forces. Even NATO’s long engagement in Afghanistan bore little resemblance to a land war in Europe, heavy on artillery and tanks, that nearly all defense ministries thought would never recur.
But it has.
In Ukraine, the kind of European war thought inconceivable is chewing up the modest stockpiles of artillery, ammunition and air defenses. Even the mighty United States has only limited stocks of the weapons the Ukrainians want and need, and Washington is unwilling to divert key weapons from delicate regions like Taiwan and Korea, where China and North Korea are constantly testing the limits.
Now, nine months into the war, the West’s fundamental unpreparedness has set off a mad scramble to supply Ukraine with what it needs while also replenishing NATO stockpiles.
As both sides burn through weaponry and ammunition at a pace not seen since World War II, the competition to keep arsenals flush has become a critical front that could prove decisive to Ukraine’s effort.
The amount of artillery being used is staggering, NATO officials say. Ukraine can fire thousands of rounds daily and remains desperate for air defense against Russian missiles and Iranian-made drones.
Read the entire article written by Steven Erlanger on The Spokesman-Review‘s website.
PARIS/WASHINGTON, DC – Next week’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt will be the first such summit held on African soil since 2016. That makes the gathering an ideal setting for world leaders to deliver on their earlier promises and announce a comprehensive plan to mitigate the worst effects of climate change on countries in the Global South.
Providing developing countries with the financing they need to achieve net-zero emissions is crucial to realizing climate justice. Ensuring inclusive and sustainable growth will require investing trillions of dollars in clean energy and green infrastructure. But only through investment on this scale can we meet the 2015 Paris climate agreement’s central goal of limiting global warming to well below 2° Celsius, relative to pre-industrial levels.
Fortunately, since the Paris agreement was signed, institutional investors have become increasingly aware that climate change could significantly affect companies’ bottom lines and have incorporated ESG (environmental, social, and governance) and sustainability factors into their risk analyses and valuations.
But as important and commendable as these measures are, they are not enough. Developing global standards for climate-risk disclosure marks the next stage in the fight against climate change. To this end, we must merge today’s alphabet soup of differing ESG and sustainability guidelines into a single mandatory framework. The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and the European Union’s proposed Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), which aim to create clear rules and criteria for ESG-related disclosures, are both steps in the right direction.
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