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Illuminating Homes with LEDs in India: Rapid Market Creation Towards Low-carbon Technology Transition in a Developing Country

This paper examines a recent, rapid, and ongoing transition of India's lighting market to light emitting diode (LED) technology, from a negligible market share to LEDs becoming the dominant lighting products within five years, despite the country's otherwise limited visibility in the global solid-state lighting industry.




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Hong Kong, a Democratic Voice in China

Hong Kong is unique. While the writer Han Suyin’s description—“a borrowed place, on borrowed time” —seemed redundant upon the return of the territory to China on July 1, 1997, the former British colony appears to be perpetually exposed to uncertainty over its future. Despite long months of sociopolitical crisis and violence, Hong Kong has once again shown that it has lost none of its personality. Amidst the climate of upheaval and faced with a Chinese regime determined to obstruct any hopes of democracy, the people of Hong Kong have managed to attract international and media attention, marking them out from any other Chinese territory—including those that enjoy special status: Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Macao, and even Xinjiang, where nearly a million people from the minority Uyghur ethnic group are confined to “re-education” camps. No other Chinese region has been able to attract such attention.




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Creating Subnational Climate Institutions in China

This discussion paper (available in English and Chinese) describes the evolution of decentralization over the reform period that began in China in 1978, different theories of institutional change in China, and how the empirical and theoretical literatures help scholars and policymakers understand the development of institutions for governing GHG-emitting activities.




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Illuminating Homes with LEDs in India: Rapid Market Creation Towards Low-carbon Technology Transition in a Developing Country

This paper examines a recent, rapid, and ongoing transition of India's lighting market to light emitting diode (LED) technology, from a negligible market share to LEDs becoming the dominant lighting products within five years, despite the country's otherwise limited visibility in the global solid-state lighting industry.




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Foreign policy experts call for end to hate crimes against Asian American community

Recent hate crimes and violent assaults against people of Asian descent should sound an alarm for America. Within the past couple of weeks alone, ac acid attack against a woman in Brooklyn caused her to suffer severe burns, and a man in Texas has been charged with attempted murder after attacking an Asian American family. Such stories have become disturbingly frequent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the FBI has warned that this trend may continue.

We, the undersigned, are alarmed by the severity of such hate crimes and race-based harassment against people of Asian descent in the United States - assaults that endanger the safety, well-being, dignity and livelihoods of all those targeted.




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The U.S.-China Relationship is at a Crossroads

Joseph Nye writes that some decoupling of interdependence is likely, particularly in areas related to technology that directly affect national security. But will Washington and Beijing go too far?




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Accumulating Evidence Using Crowdsourcing and Machine Learning: A Living Bibliography about Existential Risk and Global Catastrophic Risk

The study of existential risk — the risk of human extinction or the collapse of human civilization — has only recently emerged as an integrated field of research, and yet an overwhelming volume of relevant research has already been published. To provide an evidence base for policy and risk analysis, this research should be systematically reviewed. In a systematic review, one of many time-consuming tasks is to read the titles and abstracts of research publications, to see if they meet the inclusion criteria. The authors show how this task can be shared between multiple people (using crowdsourcing) and partially automated (using machine learning), as methods of handling an overwhelming volume of research.




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The Need for Creative and Effective Nuclear Security Vulnerability Assessment and Testing

Realistic, creative vulnerability assessment and testing are critical to finding and fixing nuclear security weaknesses and avoiding over-confidence. Both vulnerability assessment and realistic testing are needed to ensure that nuclear security systems are providing the level of protection required. Systems must be challenged by experts thinking like adversaries, trying to find ways to overcome them. Effective vulnerability assessment and realistic testing are more difficult in the case of insider threats, and special attention is needed. Organizations need to find ways to give people the mission and the incentives to find nuclear security weaknesses and suggest ways they might be fixed. With the right approaches and incentives in place, effective vulnerability assessment and testing can be a key part of achieving and sustaining high levels of nuclear security.




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Secrecy, Public Relations and the British Nuclear Debate

The opening of the British archives has seen historians uncover the secrets of the UK's nuclear weapons programme since the 1990s. While a growing number have sought to expose these former secrets, there has been less effort to consider government secrecy itself. What was kept a secret, when and why? And how and why, notably from the 1980s, did the British government decide to officially disclose greater information about the British nuclear weapons programme to Members of Parliament, journalists, defence academics and the tax-paying general public. 




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Creating Subnational Climate Institutions in China

This discussion paper (available in English and Chinese) describes the evolution of decentralization over the reform period that began in China in 1978, different theories of institutional change in China, and how the empirical and theoretical literatures help scholars and policymakers understand the development of institutions for governing GHG-emitting activities.




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Illuminating Homes with LEDs in India: Rapid Market Creation Towards Low-carbon Technology Transition in a Developing Country

This paper examines a recent, rapid, and ongoing transition of India's lighting market to light emitting diode (LED) technology, from a negligible market share to LEDs becoming the dominant lighting products within five years, despite the country's otherwise limited visibility in the global solid-state lighting industry.




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COVID-19 has taught us the internet is critical and needs public interest oversight

The COVID-19 pandemic has graphically illustrated the importance of digital networks and service platforms. Imagine the shelter-in-place reality we would have experienced at the beginning of the 21st century, only two decades ago: a slow internet and (because of that) nothing like Zoom or Netflix. Digital networks that deliver the internet to our homes, and…

       




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Encrypted messaging apps are the future of propaganda

In recent years, propaganda campaigns utilizing disinformation and spread on encrypted messaging applications (EMAs) have contributed to rising levels of offline violence in a variety of countries worldwide: Brazil, India, Mexico, Myanmar, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the United States, and Venezuela. EMAs are quickly becoming the preferred medium for complex and covert propaganda campaigns in…

       




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Trade secrets shouldn’t shield tech companies’ algorithms from oversight

Technology companies increasingly hide the world’s most powerful algorithms and business models behind the shield of trade secret protection. The legitimacy of these protections needs to be revisited when they obscure companies’ impact on the public interest or the rule of law. In 2016 and 2018, the United States and the European Union each adopted…

       




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The EARN IT Act is a disaster amid the COVID-19 crisis

Before the novel coronavirus arrived on its shores, the United States had spent decades becoming a heavily digitized society. Now, the pandemic is deepening that dependence on digital technology, converting millions of in-person interactions into online communications. That dependence means good cybersecurity, including strong encryption, has become more crucial than ever. With millions of Americans…

       




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COVID-19 misinformation is a crisis of content mediation

Amid a catastrophe, new information is often revealed at a faster pace than leaders can manage it, experts can analyze it, and the public can integrate it. In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting lag in making sense of the crisis has had a profound impact. Public health authorities have warned of the…

       




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A gender-sensitive response is missing from the COVID-19 crisis

Razia with her six children and a drug-addicted husband lives in one room in a three-room compound shared with 20 other people. Pre-COVID-19, all the residents were rarely present in the compound at the same time. However, now they all are inside the house queuing to use a single toilet, a makeshift bathing shed, and…

       




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Women’s work boosts middle class incomes but creates a family time squeeze that needs to be eased

In the early part of the 20th century, women sought and gained many legal rights, including the right to vote as part of the 19th Amendment. Their entry into the workforce, into occupations previously reserved for men, and into the social and political life of the nation should be celebrated. The biggest remaining challenge is…

       




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Creating Subnational Climate Institutions in China

This discussion paper (available in English and Chinese) describes the evolution of decentralization over the reform period that began in China in 1978, different theories of institutional change in China, and how the empirical and theoretical literatures help scholars and policymakers understand the development of institutions for governing GHG-emitting activities.




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Illuminating Homes with LEDs in India: Rapid Market Creation Towards Low-carbon Technology Transition in a Developing Country

This paper examines a recent, rapid, and ongoing transition of India's lighting market to light emitting diode (LED) technology, from a negligible market share to LEDs becoming the dominant lighting products within five years, despite the country's otherwise limited visibility in the global solid-state lighting industry.




cr

Creating Subnational Climate Institutions in China

This discussion paper (available in English and Chinese) describes the evolution of decentralization over the reform period that began in China in 1978, different theories of institutional change in China, and how the empirical and theoretical literatures help scholars and policymakers understand the development of institutions for governing GHG-emitting activities.




cr

Illuminating Homes with LEDs in India: Rapid Market Creation Towards Low-carbon Technology Transition in a Developing Country

This paper examines a recent, rapid, and ongoing transition of India's lighting market to light emitting diode (LED) technology, from a negligible market share to LEDs becoming the dominant lighting products within five years, despite the country's otherwise limited visibility in the global solid-state lighting industry.




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The Twin Crises and the Prospects for Political Sectarianism in Lebanon

LCPS solicited the opinion of key experts to answer one question: “Will the financial crisis, exacerbated further by COVID-19, strengthen or loosen the power of Lebanon’s governing political parties?” 




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2014 upheaval was crucial for Ferrari future - Allison

Ferrari technical director James Allison says the sweeping changes made to Ferrari over the winter are making it stronger every month following the team's first victory since May 2013 on Sunday




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Creating Subnational Climate Institutions in China

This discussion paper (available in English and Chinese) describes the evolution of decentralization over the reform period that began in China in 1978, different theories of institutional change in China, and how the empirical and theoretical literatures help scholars and policymakers understand the development of institutions for governing GHG-emitting activities.




cr

Illuminating Homes with LEDs in India: Rapid Market Creation Towards Low-carbon Technology Transition in a Developing Country

This paper examines a recent, rapid, and ongoing transition of India's lighting market to light emitting diode (LED) technology, from a negligible market share to LEDs becoming the dominant lighting products within five years, despite the country's otherwise limited visibility in the global solid-state lighting industry.




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Hong Kong, a Democratic Voice in China

Hong Kong is unique. While the writer Han Suyin’s description—“a borrowed place, on borrowed time” —seemed redundant upon the return of the territory to China on July 1, 1997, the former British colony appears to be perpetually exposed to uncertainty over its future. Despite long months of sociopolitical crisis and violence, Hong Kong has once again shown that it has lost none of its personality. Amidst the climate of upheaval and faced with a Chinese regime determined to obstruct any hopes of democracy, the people of Hong Kong have managed to attract international and media attention, marking them out from any other Chinese territory—including those that enjoy special status: Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Macao, and even Xinjiang, where nearly a million people from the minority Uyghur ethnic group are confined to “re-education” camps. No other Chinese region has been able to attract such attention.




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The U.S.-China Relationship is at a Crossroads

Joseph Nye writes that some decoupling of interdependence is likely, particularly in areas related to technology that directly affect national security. But will Washington and Beijing go too far?




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Accumulating Evidence Using Crowdsourcing and Machine Learning: A Living Bibliography about Existential Risk and Global Catastrophic Risk

The study of existential risk — the risk of human extinction or the collapse of human civilization — has only recently emerged as an integrated field of research, and yet an overwhelming volume of relevant research has already been published. To provide an evidence base for policy and risk analysis, this research should be systematically reviewed. In a systematic review, one of many time-consuming tasks is to read the titles and abstracts of research publications, to see if they meet the inclusion criteria. The authors show how this task can be shared between multiple people (using crowdsourcing) and partially automated (using machine learning), as methods of handling an overwhelming volume of research.




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The Need for Creative and Effective Nuclear Security Vulnerability Assessment and Testing

Realistic, creative vulnerability assessment and testing are critical to finding and fixing nuclear security weaknesses and avoiding over-confidence. Both vulnerability assessment and realistic testing are needed to ensure that nuclear security systems are providing the level of protection required. Systems must be challenged by experts thinking like adversaries, trying to find ways to overcome them. Effective vulnerability assessment and realistic testing are more difficult in the case of insider threats, and special attention is needed. Organizations need to find ways to give people the mission and the incentives to find nuclear security weaknesses and suggest ways they might be fixed. With the right approaches and incentives in place, effective vulnerability assessment and testing can be a key part of achieving and sustaining high levels of nuclear security.




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Secrecy, Public Relations and the British Nuclear Debate

The opening of the British archives has seen historians uncover the secrets of the UK's nuclear weapons programme since the 1990s. While a growing number have sought to expose these former secrets, there has been less effort to consider government secrecy itself. What was kept a secret, when and why? And how and why, notably from the 1980s, did the British government decide to officially disclose greater information about the British nuclear weapons programme to Members of Parliament, journalists, defence academics and the tax-paying general public. 




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Can Sudan’s military be convinced to support democracy?

       




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Is activism against Deepavali firecrackers a one-day campaign against Hinduism?

Air pollution
Why are activists opposing an ‘old tradition’, and why not complain against other festivals? An environmentalist answers.
PTI
The run-up to Deepavali this year saw a fierce debate on religion and tradition versus the environment and pollution. This after the Supreme Court imposed a ban on the sale of firecrackers in New Delhi and NCR in an attempt to curb pollution. With public opinion polarised on the issue, environmentalist Nityanand Jayaraman, working with the Vettiver Collective in Chennai, answers some fundamental questions raised in the debate. There are four questions which I am going to address here. The first is - It is just a few days of celebration.  How much harm can it cause? Second - What about the air pollution during the rest of the year? Third – This is a tradition that we have followed for millennia. This was never a problem when we were growing up. Why is it a problem now? Fourth – What about the pollution caused by other festivals? Here's my response. 1. It is just a few days of celebration.  How much harm can it cause? The intensity of the celebration (bursting firecrackers) depends on the number of people bursting, the duration of the celebration and the quantity and type of firecrackers they burst. This can be ameliorated or worsened by weather conditions, and whether you live in a congested area or an open neighbourhood. The unfettered bursting of firecrackers can send air quality plummeting as it did yesterday (Wednesday), when air quality index (AQI) was 15 times worse than satisfactory levels. As I have written, it is a scientific fact that AQI above 400 will harm even healthy people, and may send children and other vulnerable populations to the emergency ward. Even brief exposures to such high levels can cause extreme distress to such people. Our tradition does not teach us to harm others, and I'm sure people who are bursting firecrackers are not doing that to harm others or send children and the elderly to the hospital. They are doing that because they don't know, and are not told that there are healthier ways to celebrate. At such high levels, there is no escape from the killer dust, which will go deep into your bodies and harm you over a long term. The damage due to short exposures to intense pollution can be significant and prolonged. This is particularly so, when the remaining 365 days are also spent in unhealthy conditions, and you allude to that. This brings me to your second challenge. Read: Chennai chokes on Deepavali, air pollution at hazardous levels 2. Why is enough not being done about air pollution during the rest of the year? Why do people cry and shout only during Diwali? You are right that enough is not being done about air pollution during the rest of the year. I work in a collective that lends support to communities in Ennore, a port near Chennai, where coal-fired thermal power plants and heavy vehicle movement has rendered air quality unhealthy throughout the year. No matter how loudly we shout, we are unable to make ourselves heard. We also talk about pollution of the Ennore Creek with oily wastes from the Manali petrochemical refinery. Every day, the refinery and the industrial estate discharges tonnes of toxic, noxious oily wastes into the Ennore Creek and the Bay of Bengal. Fisherfolk have been shouting about it since 1990s. But they are not being heard. It is not because the fisherfolk are not loud enough. Rather it is because we are deaf or unwilling to listen. It was ironic then that when the oil tanker collision sent oily wastes into the Bay of Bengal, all of Chennai was self-righteously indignant. You are right that after Deepavali the air (pollution) clears. When we think that air has returned to normal, air quality levels will still be high enough to harm us. What that should tell us is not that Deepavali pollution should be condoned, but that the pollution during the rest of the year needs to be curbed by tackling its causes – private vehicles, air pollution intensive electricity generation, poor construction practices and inadequate vegetative cover within the city. Also, it is not only during Diwali that we shout. You will notice a similar spike in concern over air pollution in January around Bhogi, when the burning of old things (including tyres) and unfavourable meteorological conditions intensify air pollution. In September, when the Velankanni Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady, the beach in Chennai and all roads leading to Besant Nagar are just trashed by earnest devotees. Clearly the problem is not restricted to any one religion, and all religions and all rituals need to be re-evaluated in light of growing evidence that human lifestyles are harming the environment and humans who need air, water, and food to survive. Also read: Air quality plummets in Hyderabad on Diwali day 3. This is a tradition that we have followed for millennia. This was never a problem when we were growing up. Why are we making it a problem now? This is incorrect. Deepavali is a festival of lights, not a festival of noise and smoke. You are right that bursting firecrackers was a part of the Deepavali ritual when we were growing up. But it was not always that way. Lighting lamps which was an important part of Deepavali is hardly done nowadays, and bursting firecrackers has become more common place. The difference between when we were growing up and now is two-fold: a) There were a lot fewer people. In 1970, India's population was 550 million less than half of what it is now. Chennai had a population of 3 million as against a population of 5 million today – two million additional people live in the same land area. b) Overall, there were fewer people, and disposable incomes were small. Today, the middle class has expanded and the disposable income has increased. Hence, more people bursting more crackers. The same thing that we did a few decades ago with little impact has now become deadly. Traditions are not unchanging. Neither are the changes uniformly bad or good. Complaining about Deepavali's pollution is not an attack on Hindu tradition. It is a plea to change that tradition so that Deepavali can actually become a happy one. But Deepavalis of this loud and smoky kind are not happy for many, and particularly traumatic for animals. We would not permit our children to entertain themselves by stoning a kitten or a puppy; rather, we may teach them to enjoy themselves by petting it or feeding it. Similarly, why can't we kindle the spirit of celebration by engaging in compassionate but equally fun engagements? Why can't Deepavali be a festival of lights – a gentle festival, where we invite friends, sing songs, eat good food? 4. What about pollution caused by festivals of other religions? All our places of worship, and our rituals – irrespective of religion – have become anti-life. Christmas is a vulgar occasion of shopping and gifting things we never knew we needed to people who have no need for any more things. Increasingly, Christmas is less and less about Christ and more and more about shopping. So, you're right that we should be questioning and challenging any practices that make one person's celebration into another person's pain. I can appreciate your angst at the use of loudspeakers for religious purposes. This is done by “followers” of all religions, and there is a prohibition on this beyond 10 p.m. We could do better. Happy Smokeless, Noiseless Deepavali!




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From 'chutzpah' to being branded 'cheats': A let-down Aussie cricket fan writes

Sport
An Australian team cheated and I will never forgive those involved for tainting, what was a way of life for me.
Steve Smith
Aditya CS Back in 1993, playing cricket for me meant hitting a plastic ball with a plastic bat. I was all of 4 then. Over the next three years, I played cricket with a rubber ball and a wooden bat while trying to emulate Sachin Tendulkar, much like most other Indian kids at the time. These were my first memories of cricket and Sachin was the only cricketer I knew. Then came the 1996 World Cup, the year I turned 7 years old and put up a poster of Sachin from Sportstar magazine in my room. This was also my last act as a fan of Indian cricket. During the 1996 World Cup, all I could understand was that Sri Lanka had gone on to win the World Cup and it was a big deal. But the thing that stood out from the tournament was watching these chaps in yellow kits play. Guys who played differently. I enjoyed watching them play in spite of not knowing why. I experienced disappointment as a cricket fan for the first time when Damien Fleming dropped Asanka Gurusinha off Mark Waugh's bowling in the finals and the second time when Paul Reiffel dropped Aravinda DeSilva in the same game. The World Cup was lost but since then I always wanted to watch the Aussies play. Cricket for me was not just about Sachin or playing with my friends anymore. It was about the guys in yellow who stood out for some reason for a 7-year-old kid from Chennai.  Before I knew it, I had become an Aussie fan. Eventually, I realised why I had become one. These guys were tough competitors. They never gave up. They were quicker and stronger than most other teams. They produced some of the best pacers the game has ever seen and pace bowling is still my favourite facet of this lovely sport. Their leg spinner was a legend in the making. Over the next three years I had a Shane Warne poster, an autographed photo of Warnie, a picture of the Waugh brothers and one of Ian Healy, alongside my poster of Sachin. By the time the 1999 World Cup started, I knew that the Aussies were a special team. They played a different brand of cricket. Brash, competitive, energetic, taking charge of the game, converting ones to twos, taking blinding catches, converting half chances and most importantly they did it all with aggression! I started playing sport like them, only to become an outcast in South India where humility is a characteristic one is expected to possess even in a boxing bout. The times when I served an ace in a game of tennis and followed it up with a smirk or engaged opponents in banter on the basketball court, I knew it was only adding to my 'bad boy' image. But I didn't care much like my heroes who played cricket for Australia. Despite being the bad guys, they were winning by stamping their authority on the sport. Though I wasn't much of a sporting success, I believed their approach was one that lets you take charge of things. Hook the bouncers, take them on, dive to take a catch, go for the direct hits and trust your teammates to back up your throw. And when you have the cherry in your hand, hit them with bouncers, say things that would put them off and get them out. Once the game is over, invite the opposition for a beer to your team's dressing room. This was the 'Aussie way'. The 'in your face' approach was working for them. Between 1997 and 2007, some of the most exciting cricketers to have played for Australia emerged. Steve Waugh, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Ricky Ponting, Brett Lee, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Andrew Symonds to name a few. These 10 years were also my formative years (from the age of 8 to 18) - a period during which I copped a lot of criticism because I was an Aussie fan. Be it at school, playgrounds or anywhere I went, I would always gloat when Australia won a game and rub it in the faces of those (pretty much everyone around me) who were cheering for India. After games, some Indian fans would go on to condemn the very players they had put on a pedestal before the game and in some parts of the country, fans would even resort to vandalism. But I stood by my team (the Aussies) through thick and thin because every Aussie fan was certain that their team would bounce back soon after a defeat. While India was bleeding blue I was bleeding yellow. I had been labelled an anti-national much before it became mainstream. I would root for Leander Paes at the Chennai Open as he, like the Aussies, was possessed with a never-say-die spirit. People who could not differentiate between sport and patriotism were asking me to go to Australia. I never really gave two hoots and continued being an Aussie fan, come what may! Even when I heard people from earlier generations talk about cricketing greats from yesteryears, the stories about Lillie (Dennis Lillee) and Thommo (Jeff Thomson) always had something about them that was missing in the narrative about the great Windies or that of Gavaskar standing up to defend a bouncer and make the ball fall in front of his feet. It was the chutzpah that was missing! It took me 11 years to understand why these guys in yellow stood out, back in 1996. Good old chutzpah! During their decade of dominance from 1997 to 2007, they lost an Ashes series in 2005, a couple of series’ against India and weren't dominating the T20 format but there was no doubt that they were the best team of the decade. They won three consecutive World Cups during this time. From 2007 onwards however, I had my fair share of disappointments. Teams had proved that the Aussies were no longer invincible and could be beaten. They were not the same formidable force anymore. But I was still an Aussie fan. I did not give up on my favourite cricket team. In 2011, India beat Australia in the World Cup quarter-finals. That was perhaps one of the worst days of my life. Friends from school, college, my neighbourhood, colleagues vented out years of pent up frustration of having to listen to me sledge them every time Australia beat India. It was my turn to cop some and I did it just the way the Aussies would. I answered every phone call and replied to every text saying 'wait till 2015'. I did not shy away from it.   Even though 2011-2013 saw an up and down patch, I still did not give up supporting the Kangaroos. Then came Mitchell Johnson in 2013 and along with Michael Clarke's batting prowess, I was back to my obnoxious best. And in the 2015 World Cup semi-finals, Australia beat India and went on to win the tournament and it felt like normalcy had been restored. There were many controversies the Australians found themselves mired in. There were allegations that they sledged, they were bullies, they don't walk (well no batsman ever did except Gilchrist) and I would defend them tooth and nail because I did not see anything wrong with bouncing a batsman or getting in his face and claiming a wicket. It was fine, they played tough and it worked for them. In 2003, Warne failed a dope test and I was sure that it was not to gain an unfair advantage. Ponting claimed a catch that hit the ground in 2007 and still I believed that they were not trying to cheat. Australians wouldn't cheat. They will bounce you, sledge you, bully you, stare and glare at umpires but wouldn't cheat. The belief was so strong that when Indian cricket was recovering from a match fixing scandal in 2001, the likes of Sachin, Dravid, Kumble and Sourav said what Indian cricket needed the most at that time was a series against Australia to restore the faith of Indian cricket fans. They needed to play a side that respected the sport and would give every game their all. A side that you know wouldn't think of losing at any cost. And most of all a side that loved the game of cricket. And boy, what a series that was! Indian cricket fans believed in their team once again. Yes they belonged to the other camp but I was happy for them. This is what I loved about the way Aussies played cricket. More than two decades of Australian cricket has been a part of my life and remains an influence on me, the way I looked at things, the way I faced situations head-on, the “never-say-die” attitude that was instilled in me during my formative years. But today I feel let down. I have nothing to say. I still can't believe what has happened. It still hasn't sunk in. An Australian team tampering with the ball. They cheated and they planned to do it. I feel sick in my stomach. I am swamped with thoughts of how the Aussie greats would be feeling. The guys who were my childhood heroes. Gilly, Warnie, Brett Lee, Steve Waugh. Guys I idolised. I wanted to live my life the way they played cricket. It's more than just being a fan or guzzling a few beers after winning an Ashes series. The way the Aussies played cricket, established a way of life for me. Brash? Yes. Obnoxious? Maybe. Arrogant? Perhaps. Tough? Definitely. Cheat? Never! Today Smith and his team have sinned. This is not something an Aussie side can ever do. Smith described his first reckless on-field mistake as a ’brain fade’ in Bengaluru last year and I felt uneasy then but still chose to believe, it was an error while using a relatively new provision in the game. But today it's carved in stone. An Australian team cheated and I will never forgive those involved for tainting, what was a way of life for me. For taking away from me my favourite retort to those who asked me, "Aren't you being a bit too aggressive/harsh/arrogant/abrasive?" by saying, "Perhaps I am, but that's also how the Aussies play their cricket.”  Because from this day on, using that retort could also mean I have been cheating.




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Hong Kong, a Democratic Voice in China

Hong Kong is unique. While the writer Han Suyin’s description—“a borrowed place, on borrowed time” —seemed redundant upon the return of the territory to China on July 1, 1997, the former British colony appears to be perpetually exposed to uncertainty over its future. Despite long months of sociopolitical crisis and violence, Hong Kong has once again shown that it has lost none of its personality. Amidst the climate of upheaval and faced with a Chinese regime determined to obstruct any hopes of democracy, the people of Hong Kong have managed to attract international and media attention, marking them out from any other Chinese territory—including those that enjoy special status: Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Macao, and even Xinjiang, where nearly a million people from the minority Uyghur ethnic group are confined to “re-education” camps. No other Chinese region has been able to attract such attention.




cr

The U.S.-China Relationship is at a Crossroads

Joseph Nye writes that some decoupling of interdependence is likely, particularly in areas related to technology that directly affect national security. But will Washington and Beijing go too far?




cr

Accumulating Evidence Using Crowdsourcing and Machine Learning: A Living Bibliography about Existential Risk and Global Catastrophic Risk

The study of existential risk — the risk of human extinction or the collapse of human civilization — has only recently emerged as an integrated field of research, and yet an overwhelming volume of relevant research has already been published. To provide an evidence base for policy and risk analysis, this research should be systematically reviewed. In a systematic review, one of many time-consuming tasks is to read the titles and abstracts of research publications, to see if they meet the inclusion criteria. The authors show how this task can be shared between multiple people (using crowdsourcing) and partially automated (using machine learning), as methods of handling an overwhelming volume of research.




cr

The Need for Creative and Effective Nuclear Security Vulnerability Assessment and Testing

Realistic, creative vulnerability assessment and testing are critical to finding and fixing nuclear security weaknesses and avoiding over-confidence. Both vulnerability assessment and realistic testing are needed to ensure that nuclear security systems are providing the level of protection required. Systems must be challenged by experts thinking like adversaries, trying to find ways to overcome them. Effective vulnerability assessment and realistic testing are more difficult in the case of insider threats, and special attention is needed. Organizations need to find ways to give people the mission and the incentives to find nuclear security weaknesses and suggest ways they might be fixed. With the right approaches and incentives in place, effective vulnerability assessment and testing can be a key part of achieving and sustaining high levels of nuclear security.




cr

Secrecy, Public Relations and the British Nuclear Debate

The opening of the British archives has seen historians uncover the secrets of the UK's nuclear weapons programme since the 1990s. While a growing number have sought to expose these former secrets, there has been less effort to consider government secrecy itself. What was kept a secret, when and why? And how and why, notably from the 1980s, did the British government decide to officially disclose greater information about the British nuclear weapons programme to Members of Parliament, journalists, defence academics and the tax-paying general public. 




cr

The U.S.-China Relationship is at a Crossroads

Joseph Nye writes that some decoupling of interdependence is likely, particularly in areas related to technology that directly affect national security. But will Washington and Beijing go too far?




cr

Accumulating Evidence Using Crowdsourcing and Machine Learning: A Living Bibliography about Existential Risk and Global Catastrophic Risk

The study of existential risk — the risk of human extinction or the collapse of human civilization — has only recently emerged as an integrated field of research, and yet an overwhelming volume of relevant research has already been published. To provide an evidence base for policy and risk analysis, this research should be systematically reviewed. In a systematic review, one of many time-consuming tasks is to read the titles and abstracts of research publications, to see if they meet the inclusion criteria. The authors show how this task can be shared between multiple people (using crowdsourcing) and partially automated (using machine learning), as methods of handling an overwhelming volume of research.




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The Need for Creative and Effective Nuclear Security Vulnerability Assessment and Testing

Realistic, creative vulnerability assessment and testing are critical to finding and fixing nuclear security weaknesses and avoiding over-confidence. Both vulnerability assessment and realistic testing are needed to ensure that nuclear security systems are providing the level of protection required. Systems must be challenged by experts thinking like adversaries, trying to find ways to overcome them. Effective vulnerability assessment and realistic testing are more difficult in the case of insider threats, and special attention is needed. Organizations need to find ways to give people the mission and the incentives to find nuclear security weaknesses and suggest ways they might be fixed. With the right approaches and incentives in place, effective vulnerability assessment and testing can be a key part of achieving and sustaining high levels of nuclear security.




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Secrecy, Public Relations and the British Nuclear Debate

The opening of the British archives has seen historians uncover the secrets of the UK's nuclear weapons programme since the 1990s. While a growing number have sought to expose these former secrets, there has been less effort to consider government secrecy itself. What was kept a secret, when and why? And how and why, notably from the 1980s, did the British government decide to officially disclose greater information about the British nuclear weapons programme to Members of Parliament, journalists, defence academics and the tax-paying general public. 




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Schumacher's condition still critical but stable

Michael Schumacher's condition has remained stable since Tuesday after spending a fourth night in a coma in hospital




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Schumacher 'is considered as stable' but still 'critical'

Michael Schumacher's manager says his "condition can be considered as stable" but that he remains in a critical condition




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Breaking the Ice: How France and the UK Could Reshape a Credible European Defense and Renew the Transatlantic Partnership

History is replete with irony, but rarely more poignantly than in the summer of 2016 when, on 23 June, the UK voted to leave the European Union and the next day, 24 June, the EU published its Global Strategy document asserting its ambition of “strategic autonomy.” Whither Franco-British defense cooperation in such chaotic circumstances? This paper attempts to provide the outline of an answer to that question.




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Creating Subnational Climate Institutions in China

This discussion paper (available in English and Chinese) describes the evolution of decentralization over the reform period that began in China in 1978, different theories of institutional change in China, and how the empirical and theoretical literatures help scholars and policymakers understand the development of institutions for governing GHG-emitting activities.




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Illuminating Homes with LEDs in India: Rapid Market Creation Towards Low-carbon Technology Transition in a Developing Country

This paper examines a recent, rapid, and ongoing transition of India's lighting market to light emitting diode (LED) technology, from a negligible market share to LEDs becoming the dominant lighting products within five years, despite the country's otherwise limited visibility in the global solid-state lighting industry.




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Hong Kong, a Democratic Voice in China

Hong Kong is unique. While the writer Han Suyin’s description—“a borrowed place, on borrowed time” —seemed redundant upon the return of the territory to China on July 1, 1997, the former British colony appears to be perpetually exposed to uncertainty over its future. Despite long months of sociopolitical crisis and violence, Hong Kong has once again shown that it has lost none of its personality. Amidst the climate of upheaval and faced with a Chinese regime determined to obstruct any hopes of democracy, the people of Hong Kong have managed to attract international and media attention, marking them out from any other Chinese territory—including those that enjoy special status: Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Macao, and even Xinjiang, where nearly a million people from the minority Uyghur ethnic group are confined to “re-education” camps. No other Chinese region has been able to attract such attention.




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American workers’ safety net is broken. The COVID-19 crisis is a chance to fix it.

The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing some major adjustments to many aspects of our daily lives that will likely remain long after the crisis recedes: virtual learning, telework, and fewer hugs and handshakes, just to name a few. But in addition, let’s hope the crisis also drives a permanent overhaul of the nation’s woefully inadequate worker…