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"The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is All But Dead"

by Sharif Abdel-Kouddous, AL-AHRAM, Cairo. A global conference to review the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty came to a disheartening close at the United Nations last month after the world's governments failed to strengthen controls on the spread of nuclear weapons or make any progress towards the elimination of existing nuclear arsenals. Countries that have signed on to the cornerstone treaty meet every five years to assess its implementation and find ways to further the goals of non-proliferation and disarmament. This year, fundamental differences in priority -- largely between the United States and Middle Eastern nations -- pervaded the review conference to such an extent that the treaty itself may have been damaged. While Washington tried to keep the focus of the month-long talks on alleged nuclear threats from Iran and North Korea, a large number of member states were more concerned with the colossal nuclear firepower of the United States and the failure of the Bush administration to meet its own obligations under the treaty.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/746/in3.htm

(Added: Fri Jun 10 2005   Hits: 163)

6 Signs The US May Be Headed for War in Iran

Is the United States moving toward military action with Iran? The resignation of the top U.S. military commander for the Middle East is setting off alarms that the Bush administration is intent on using military force to stop Iran's moves toward gaining nuclear weapons

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/13/7676/

(Added: Fri Mar 14 2008   Hits: 32)

A More Secure World: Our Shared Resposibility

Report of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, United Nations 2004. "In its report, the High-level Panel sets out a bold, new vision of collective security for the 21st century. We live in a world of new and evolving threats, threats that could not have been anticipated when the UN was founded in 1945 - threats like nuclear terrorism, and State collapse from the witch's brew of poverty, disease and civil war ... The report is the start, not the end, of a process. The year 2005 will be a crucial opportunity for Member States to discuss and build on the recommendations in the report, some of which will be considered by a summit of heads of State."

http://www.un.org/secureworld/

(Added: Thu Dec 16 2004   Modified: Wed Dec 07 2005   Hits: 285)

Aceh list

Up to date reports, news and information on Aceh, with particular emphasis on the human rights situation. The list is run by TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign.

http://www.topica.com/lists/aceh-list

(Added: Fri Aug 10 2001   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 208)

Al-Qaeda in Southeast Asia: The case of the "Ngruki Network" in Indonesia

From The International Crisis Group (ICG). One network of militant Muslims has produced all the Indonesian nationals so far suspected of links to al-Qaeda. This briefing paper explains how that network emerged, its historical antecedents, and the political dynamics over the last two decades that led some of its members from Indonesia to Malaysia to Afghanistan. It is part of an occasional series that ICG intends to issue on the nature of radical Islam in Southeast Asia.

http://www.crisisweb.org/projects/showreport.cfm?reportid=733

(Added: Wed Aug 14 2002   Modified: Wed Dec 14 2005   Hits: 241)

America's Imperial Ambition

By G. John Ikenberry. From Foreign Affairs, September/October 2002. Summary: The concepts emerging from the Bush administration's war on terrorism form a neoimperial vision in which the United States arrogates to itself the global role of setting standards, determining threats, and using force. These radical ideas could transform today's world order in a way that the end of the Cold War did not. The administration's approach is fraught with peril and likely to fail. If history is any guide, it will trigger resistance that will leave America in a more hostile and divided world. G. John Ikenberry is Peter F. Krogh Professor of Geopolitics and Global Justice at Georgetown University and a regular book reviewer for Foreign Affairs. His most recent book is After Victory: Institutions, Strategic Restraint, and the Rebuilding of Order After Major Wars. (Buy the article online from this link)

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20020901faessay9732/g-john-ikenberry/america-s-imperial-ambition.html

(Added: Wed Aug 13 2003   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 215)

Another SOA? Police Academy in El Salvador Worries Critics

Semi-secretly established in 2005, a Salvadoran branch of the International Law Enforcement Academy, a U.S.-sponsored global network of police schools, has angered critics and human rights activists, who wonder if it will perpetuate long-standing patterns of police and military abuse in the country (Wes Enzinna, Upside Down World, 18 March 2008).

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1182/1/

(Added: Tue Mar 25 2008   Hits: 33)

Arms Trade Treaty process moves further forward

the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) process continues to gain momentum. Large numbers of states also supported the need for a tough treaty, with over half of them claiming that the treaty needs to include considerations around human rights and International Humanitarian Law, and over 40 states suggesting that arms transfers that would have a negative impact on development should not be authorised. (Oxfam, December 2008)

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/applications/blogs/policy/2007/12/arms_trade_treaty_process_move.html

(Added: Mon Feb 11 2008   Hits: 16)

Buying arms; selling lives: critical roles in arms control

id21 guest editorial by Jane Chanaa, Oxfam GB examining the role governments and development organisations could play in minimising the negative effects of arms trade.

http://www.id21.org/id21-info/GuestEds/ChanaaOct04.html

(Added: Fri Nov 05 2004   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 179)

Centre for Defense Information

CDI has evolved into one of the foremost organizations in the nation (US) conducting security-related research - and is unique among major think tanks in its policy of total independence from vested interests. Through a variety of publications and services, CDI provides information and analyses to policy-makers around the globe - including the U.S. Congress, government, international agencies, the media and the public. On television, radio, the Internet, and in print, CDI serves as an authoritative, impartial monitor of global security issues, while continuing to meet the increasing worldwide demand for information and independent ideas.

http://www.cdi.org/

(Added: Tue Sep 24 2002   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 210)

Cluster Bombs in Afghanistan

Human Rights Watch Backgrounder, October 2001. The United States-led alliance began its air campaign in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. While the Pentagon has been reluctant to talk of specific weapons used in the bombing, U.S. military sources have told Human Rights Watch that the Air Force began dropping cluster bombs within a matter of days. During the first week of the campaign, it is believed that Air Force B-1 bombers dropped 50 CBU-87 cluster bombs in some five missions. CBU-87 cluster bomb use has continued after the first week, and it is believed that other airplanes joined B-1s in dropping cluster bombs on both fixed and mobile targets. Human Rights Watch has called for a global moratorium on use of cluster bombs because they have been shown to cause unacceptable civilian casualties both during and after conflict. Cluster bombs have a wide dispersal pattern and cannot be targeted precisely, making them especially dangerous when used near civilian areas. Cluster bombs are usually used in very large numbers and have a high initial failure rate which results in numerous explosive "duds" that pose the same post-conflict problem as antipersonnel landmines.

http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/arms/cluster-bck1031.htm

(Added: Thu Nov 13 2003   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 185)

Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT)

COAT is a national network of individuals and organizations in Canada that began in late 1988 to organize opposition to ARMX '89, which was the country's largest weapons bazaar. COAT has continued to expose and oppose Canada's role in the international arms trade, particularly where there is trade to governments which are engaged in war or which violate human rights.

http://www.ncf.ca/coat/

(Added: Thu Jan 31 2002   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 198)

Conference on Disarmament

The Conference on Disarmament (CD), established in 1979 as the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum of the international community, was a result of the first Special Session on Disarmament of the United Nations General Assembly held in 1978. It succeeded other Geneva-based negotiating fora, which include the Ten-Nation Committee on Disarmament (1960), the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament (1962-68), and the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament (1969-78)

http://disarmament2.un.org/cd/

(Added: Thu Jun 09 2005   Modified: Thu Jul 13 2006   Hits: 212)

Dead on Time - arms transportation, brokering and the threat to human rights

The report shows how increasingly sophisticated freight transport and brokering operations now deliver hundreds of thousands of tons of weapons around the world with an ever-greater proportion going to developing countries where they have fed some of the most brutal of conflicts. Chronically weak and outdated arms controls urgently need strengthening to stop an ever-expanding chain of arms brokers, logistic firms and transporters from fuelling massive human rights abuse around the world. Amnesty International's report illustrates the unregulated, secretive and unaccountable nature of many arms transporting and brokering operations with a series of shocking case studies including the sea freighting of large quantities of arms to Liberia from China by a Dutch arms broker in contravention of a UN arms embargo on Liberia and despite evidence of the widespread killing, rape and displacement of thousands of civilians. (Amnesty International and TransArms, 10 May 2006)

http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maaeMW1abqsXlckuuzKb/

(Added: Wed May 17 2006   Hits: 216)

FAS Arms Sales Monitoring Project

Since 1991, the FAS Arms Sales Monitoring Project has worked for transparency, accountability and deep reductions in global conventional weapons production and trade. Our aim is to prevent dangerous and wasteful military build-ups, and thereby reduce the likelihood of warfare and the lethality of warfare when it does occur. Reducing militarism-especially in the developing world-should also alleviate much of the justification for continued large U.S. military expenditures.

http://fas.org/asmp

(Added: Thu May 27 2004   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 174)

France's Secret War in Africa

For forty years, the French government has been fighting a secret war in the dead-centre of Africa, hidden not only from the French people and parliament, but from the world. It has led the French to slaughter democrats, install dictator after dictator - and even to fund and fuel the most vicious genocide since the Nazis. This gives first hand accounts of the atrocities committed by the French and on behalf of the French (9 October 2007).

http://johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=1189

(Added: Tue Oct 09 2007   Hits: 136)

Gender and US Bases in Asia-Pacific

The authors of this article discuss the power dynamics of militarism in the Asia-Pacific region. They suggest that hierarchical relationships, shaped by gender, can be seen in U.S. military exploitation of host communities in Asia and the Pacific. (Common Dreams, 14 March 2008)

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/14/7699/

(Added: Mon Mar 17 2008   Hits: 48)

Global Responses to Global Threats: Sustainable Security for the 21st Century [pdf]

Since the events of September 11, 2001 and the development of the 'war on terror', western powers have cited international terrorism as the greatest threat facing the world. This has diverted attention and resources from other, more serious, likely causes of future conflict. The root causes of global insecurity must be addressed (Chris Abbott, Paul Rogers and John Sloboda, 2006)

http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/publications/briefing_papers/pdf/globalthreats.pdf

(Added: Wed May 07 2008   Hits: 8)

Guam & Saipan: The Military Means Business In Depressed Micronesian Economies

While the end of the Cold War brought a downsizing of U. S. military activity globally, including on Guam, since 2002, the military has increased investment into its Guam and Northern Marianas facilities. Valuing the taxes paid by the military to local government, the Saipan Chamber of Commerce and the Guam Chamber of Commerce have taken steps to promote the islands to military decision makers. (Frank Whitman, Pacifc Magazine, September 2002)

http://www.pacificislands.cc/pm92002/pmdefault.php?urlarticleid=0007

(Added: Wed Jun 28 2006   Hits: 135)

Hijacking global aid

The world's military spending has surged back up to $1 trillion (U.S.) a year, the old Cold War level, thanks chiefly to the "war on terror." It is money the United States, Canada and other major donors could have put to far better use helping the world's poorest by meeting the United Nations target of spending 0.7 per cent of our wealth on aid. (Toronto Star, 19 June 2006)

http://www.realityofaid.org/print.php?t=activities&i=6

(Added: Mon Jun 26 2006   Hits: 142)

India's Gas Centrifuge Programme: Stopping Illicit Procurement and the Leaking of Technical Centrifuge Know How

Indian nuclear and government officials have stated that India has an "impeccable" nonproliferation record. Officials go so far as to claim that India does not engage in illicit nuclear procurement and has an exemplary record of preventing nuclear secrets from falling into the wrong hands. ISIS has uncovered a well-developed, active, and secret Indian program to outfit its uranium enrichment program and circumvent other countries' export control efforts. In addition, ISIS has concluded that Indian procurement methods for its nuclear program leak sensitive nuclear technology. David Albright and Susan Basu, Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), March 10, 2006.

http://www.isis-online.org/publications/southasia/indianprocurement.pdf

(Added: Fri Mar 17 2006   Hits: 142)

International Network Against Foreign Military Bases

This website is maintained by a global network of anti-bases activists and researchers involveed in broad international campaign against foreign military bases. The site features recent information about the bases and the local, national and regional organisations organising against them.

http://www.nobases.net

(Added: Thu Aug 11 2005   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 133)

Latin America and the Wide War

Much has changed since the Clinton administration held up Latin America as the crown jewel of globalization's promise. Changes in the way terrorism experts and government officials think about international security, with an enemies list infinitely expandable to include everything from DVD bootleggers to peasants protesting the Bechtel Corporation, have the US, centring its attention on terrorist links to the legendary Ciudad del Este. According to this article, the spectre of unholy alliances provides plenty of cover for the Pentagon to move forward with its militarization of hemispheric relations, even as nation after nation in the region slips out of Washington's political and economic orbit. (Greg Grandin, Mother Jones, 8 May 2006)

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2006/05/latin_america_wide_war.html

(Added: Fri May 19 2006   Hits: 145)

Living with the Hegemon: European Dilemmas

West European states, the closest allies and formal 'partners' of the United States in the Western international order established after 1945, are thus faced with a range of strategic and tactical choices. Do they assume that American dominance within the post-cold war global order is likely to remain unchallengeable for the foreseeable future? Do they accept, and work within, a global framework of American hegemony, to bandwagon as far as they can on established ties to the USA through pursuing influence at the margin; or should they seek to balance American dominance by building up European institutions as a competing centre of power?

http://www.ssrc.org/sept11/essays/wallace.htm

(Added: Thu May 15 2003   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 176)

Military Expenditure and Arms Production

Report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The purpose of this project is to monitor, describe and analyse trends and developments in military expenditure and arms production world-wide. For this purpose the project maintains two databases with global coverage: one on military expenditure and one on arms-producing companies.

http://projects.sipri.se/milex.html

(Added: Wed Jun 26 2002   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 205)

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