That is why the Department of Defense has for many years
called climate change a ``catalyst of conflict.''
Researchers from NASA and the University of Arizona determined that
drought in Syria was very likely the worst in a thousand years. Massive
crop failures and livestock losses moved farmers into stressed cities,
where popular protests met brutal violence from the Assad regime. The
tide of refugees from that chaos swamped Europe. To the extent the
droughts in Syria were a root cause of the discontent that led to the
conflict, and ultimately to the flight of refugees, European
governments have seen this second order of security risk up close. There is a third order of security risk, and that is damage to the
keystone institutions of our present world order--market capitalism and
democratic government. We depend for the quality of life we enjoy on
market capitalism and democratic governance, and those institutions--
capitalism and democracy--in turn depend on popular approval and
confidence.
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refugees