Stratfor - Where the North Korean Crisis Meets the Iran Nuclear Deal

The Brief   Where the North Korean Crisis Meets the Iran Nuclear Deal By virtue of its military might, the United States has the unique ability to quickly — and credibly — place its most intractable adversaries under existential threat. Command over the world's most powerful military gives a country options, and the option of regime change can be a tempting one for Washington as it tries to work through some of its more maddening foreign policy dilemmas.   Essential Reading The Gulf Cooperation Council Will Never Be the Same The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has stopped cooperating. In fact, the bloc may be fragmenting. Kuwait hosted the 38th GCC Summit on Tuesday, but only one member — Qatar — sent its head of state to the gathering. Moreover, the GCC members decided to cancel the second day of the planned two-day summit. Yet perhaps most concerning for the GCC's future was the United Arab Emirates' announcement that it and Saudi Arabia were planning their own cooperation council for security and economic affairs. Things have been tense in the bloc since Saudi Arabia and some GCC peers' started a campaign to isolate Qatar over differences in regional policies.   A Gloomy Forecast for Climate Change When it comes to climate change, there is no disputing that the world is getting warmer. For those pondering how best to manage a sultry Earth, the issue is increasingly binary: what can be done to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming, and what can humans do to better adapt to a hotter environment? For those present at the 23rd Conference of Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP23, in Bonn, Germany, the question might well have been "how do countries agree to agree?" The COP23 conference concluded Nov. 17 with none of the fanfare of COP21 in Paris, held just two years earlier.  Stratfor Horizons: Counterintelligence in the Private Sector When it comes to research and development, the United States spends more than any other nation. According to the National Science Foundation's National Center for Science and Engineering, the U.S. spent $499 billion dollars on R&D with 69% of that sum coming from the private sector. Knowing this, foreign intelligence services have been targeting U.S. businesses rather aggressively over the past few decades. Theft of intellectual property belonging to U.S. business can save foreign competitors millions, if not billions, of dollars each year.    Watch and Listen Podcast: The President's Book of Secrets With David Preiss Have you ever wondered what the U.S. president’s top secret intelligence briefing is like? In this episode of the Stratfor Podcast, we ask former intelligence officer, manager and daily briefer at the CIA David Priess about his latest book, The President’s Book of Secrets: The Untold Story of Intelligence Briefings to America’s Presidents.  Iran's Geographic Challenge In this short geographic primer, Stratfor examines Iran's geographic position at the crossroads of the Islamic world.

Stratfor Store Reports Geography and the Successful Militant Hideout What is it that has allowed militant groups like the Taliban to evade destruction at the hands of vastly stronger forces? This report examines the interplay of physical and human geography in eight locations where militant groups have established hideouts, or havens where they have been able to retreat under pressure and manage to survive.  China: Leading the Way in a New World Order? China is in the midst of an epochal transformation with massive geopolitical impacts. This report explores the role China may come to play in the international order over the next 15 years.

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