President Obama will use a Wednesday speech to highlight his view that climate change is one of the most significant military threats to the United States and the world.
Obama will argue in his address to graduates at the United States Coast Guard Academy that the fight against climate change is a fight for global peace and against the conflicts that lead to war, the White House said in a preview of his remarks.
“I am here today to say that climate change constitutes a serious threat to global security, an immediate risk to our national security, and, make no mistake, it will impact how our military defends our country,” Obama will tell the new Coast Guard officers, according to the White House. “And so we need to act — and we need to act now.”
A White House official said the speech will demonstrate how climate change “poses immediate risks to our national security, contributing to increased natural disasters and resulting in humanitarian crises, and potentially increasing refugee flows and exacerbating conflicts over basic resources like food and water.”
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Our founding fathers warned us about the actions of domestic enemies. They warned us about being vigilant, virtuous and honorable. If we do not have the latter qualities, we deserve the tyranny that is now upon us.
David DeGerolamo
The Greek government says that a “moment of truth” is coming on June 5th. Either their lenders agree to give them more money by that date, or Greece will default on a 300 million euro loan payment to the IMF. Of course it won’t technically be a “default” according to IMF rules for another 30 days after that, but without a doubt news that Greece cannot pay will send shockwaves throughout the financial world. At that point, those holding Greek bonds will start to panic as they realize that they might not get paid as well. All over Europe, there are major banks that are holding large amounts of Greek debt and derivatives that are related to the performance of Greek debt. If something is not done to avert disaster at the last moment, a default by Greece could be the spark that sets off a major European financial crisis this summer.
