Continuity or sea change? What to expect from Kamala Harris on foreign policy Analysis No consistent picture has emerged yet as to how Kamala Harris would shape her foreign policy if she ends up being the next US president. Her time as Vice President gives at least some hints on how she might deal with China, the war in Ukraine, and policy in the Middle East. By Teresa Eder
Third-party voters could tip the election against Harris Analysis As American voters have become more firmly entrenched in their party affiliations, fewer and fewer states are in contention and the margins of victory are increasingly slim. This year, polls suggest that in the handful of swing states that will determine the race, the winner could be decided by a razor-thin margin. Votes for third party candidates could be enough to tip the election – most likely, in favor of Donald Trump. By Hannah Winnick
Climate pragmatism or Faustian bargain? What the new US climate law does—and where it fails Analysis The Inflation Reduction Act is seen as an expression of climate pragmatism by some and a Faustian bargain with the fossil fuel industry by others. What exactly is it? By Liane Schalatek
Texas Power Grid Failure: Causes, Lessons Learned and Implications for EU Energy Market Transformation Analysis In mid-February 2021, the US state of Texas, much like the rest of the country, was hit by a series of three severe winter storms. The resulting near-arctic weather conditions have laid bare the long-standing weaknesses and inefficiencies of the Texas energy system. By Matěj Jungwirth
Joe Biden and Climate: Cause for Cautious Optimism Analysis The victory of the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, in the American presidential elections is the most important development in global climate policies since the Paris climate agreement was drafted in late 2015. Who steers the US climate agenda and how matters a great deal to the rest of the world, and not just because the US is currently the planet’s second-largest polluter in terms of carbon dioxide emissions. By Matěj Jungwirth
“Trump’s election defeat won’t end structural racism” Interview The murder of George Floyd has thrown the USA into a state of unrest. Trump is throwing fuel on the fire in an attempt to increase his re-election chances.
An inch closer to a world without nuclear weapons Almost exactly one year since his last visit, US President Barack Obama has returned to Prague. One year ago, he publicly declared his vision for a world without nuclear weapons. Today, together with his counterpart, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, he has signed a treaty that some international commentators call the most concrete foreign-policy achievement of the US president so far.
Missile defense: Postpone and re-evaluate The European (or “third”) pillar of missile defense is a planned component of the American national missile defense system, tasked with protecting the United States of America (and indirectly, their allies) from possible ballistic missile attack. The American missile defense system has been in development since the 1950s in various modifications, but it was not until the administration of the Republican President George W. Bush that it was expanded (President Clinton only supported a project for missile defense in combat - TMD). In 2001, the United States increased funding for missile defense and withdrew from the Soviet-American Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (the ABM treaty). That treaty, signed in 1972, restricted the distribution of missile defense capabilities.
New Strategies for Communicating Climate Change I want to talk about the fact that climate change seems to finally have showed up on the public agenda. You know that for a long time this was basically a conversation among us experts and maybe among some elitist politicians or NGOs. However, it seems to have now appeared on the public agenda, and I want to talk more about where the public really is on global warming and, resulting from that, what the needs for communication are at this point. I will discuss how difficult it is to talk about climate change and how well we have done today, what we have achieved and what is left to do, and I will take a pretty critical look at that. Finally, I will share the insights from this project that I have been involved in for the last three or four years on communicating climate change in a way that actually facilitates societal response to this problem -- not just communicating to get the word out, but to actually mobilize the public, which is, I think, the necessity now.
Road to Copenhagen: The EU and the US – Driving Forces for a Succesful Post 2012 Agreement? The conference organised by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Ministry of Environment provided good opportunity for exchange and debate among the climate diplomats, government officials, experts, business and NGOs representatives and interested public (over 160 participants). The main aim of the conference, the biggest of its kind in the new EU member states this year, was to assess where the EU, USA and other key players stay shortly before the Copenhagen Climate Conference (COP 15) this December. Far beyond that, three thematic workshops in the afternoon provided for an intensive expert discussions on the issues of the cost of the unabated Climate change, ways how to finance the measures against it and last but not least the economic opportunities stemming from the „green investments“ and mitigation measures.
