President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change raises a series of legal, procedural and policy questions that have yet to be decisively answered, said the Congressional Research Service last week.
Among those questions: Will the US follow the prescribed multi-year procedure for withdrawal? Or can the US withdraw immediately? What role if any will the US play in future climate change deliberations under the Paris Agreement? What are the prospects for a legal challenge to the US withdrawal?
See President Trump’s Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement Raises Legal Questions, CRS Legal Sidebar, June 9, 2017.
Other new and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following.
FY2018 Defense Budget Request: The Basics, June 9, 2017
Qatar: Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy, updated June 9, 2017
Israel and the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement, updated June 9, 2017
U.S. Foreign Aid to the Middle East and North Africa: The President’s FY2018 Request, CRS Insight, June 8, 2017
Malawi: Key Developments and U.S. Relations, June 2, 2017
U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America: Policy Issues for Congress, June 8, 2017
European Security and Islamist Terrorism, CRS Insight, updated June 8, 2017
Juneteenth: Fact Sheet, June 9, 2017
Air Force B-21 Long Range Strike Bomber, updated June 7, 2017
Special Counsels, Independent Counsels, and Special Prosecutors: Options for Independent Executive Investigations, June 1, 2017
Satellite imagery of RAF Lakenheath reveals new construction of a security perimeter around ten protective aircraft shelters in the designated nuclear area, the latest measure in a series of upgrades as the base prepares for the ability to store U.S. nuclear weapons.
It will take consistent leadership and action to navigate the complex dangers in the region and to avoid what many analysts considered to be an increasingly possible outcome, a nuclear conflict in East Asia.
Getting into a shutdown is the easy part, getting out is much harder. Both sides will be looking to pin responsibility on each other, and the court of public opinion will have a major role to play as to who has the most leverage for getting us out.
How the United States responds to China’s nuclear buildup will shape the global nuclear balance for the rest of the century.