Global militarisation

The current priority of the dominant security actors is maintaining international security through the vigorous use of military force combined with the development of both nuclear and conventional weapons systems. Post-Cold War nuclear developments involve the modernisation and proliferation of nuclear systems, with an increasing risk of limited nuclear-weapons use in warfare – breaking a threshold that has held for sixty years and seriously undermining multilateral attempts at disarmament. These dangerous trends will be exacerbated by developments in national missile defence, chemical and biological weapons and a race towards the weaponisation of space.

A Spoon Full of Sugar Makes the Medicine Go Down? An analysis of the Obama administration’s ‘new’ National Space Policy.

Jo-Anne Gilbert, Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. | Exclusively written for sustainablesecurity.org | September 2010

Issue:Global militarisation

On 28 June 2010, US President Barack Obama released a new, and much anticipated National Space Policy (NSP) document.  In contrast to the bellicose and unilateral tone of George W. Bush’s 2006 policy, the 2010 document is replete with references to ‘international cooperation’ and ‘responsibility.’

When taken with Obama’s campaign promise to pursue a “world-wide ban” on space weapons, and overtures to the Conference on Disarmament that the US is prepared to negotiate international arms control agreements regarding space, those opposed to the weaponisation of space might have some cause for optimism that the US has stepped back from setting a dangerous precedent.

But while the change in White House policy is welcome, especially in relation to a greater emphasis on debris mitigation, to assume that space weapons are no longer on the US agenda because of the NSP may be a mistake, and claims that the Bush policy has been reversed are overstated.  The NSP remains paradoxical and ambiguous in places, and the policy outcomes remain tied to other conditional political factors such as Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) and nuclear policies, technology developments, and the US political landscape. This article will address each of these items in turn.

Image Source: mikebaird

 

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Posted on 8/09/10

Youth Breaking Cycles of Marginalisation, Resource Competition and Violence in Yemen

Issues:Competition over resources, Global militarisation, Marginalisation

Last month in Yemen, 40 young men and women, all under the age of 30, came together to form the country's first cross-tribal youth council to address violence and marginalisation. Disputes over land claims and competition for resources and government services often lead to violence and cycles of revenge killings that can extend over a decade, hindering the work of government and international development agencies, and isolating citizens from the state.

Image source: NDI.

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Posted on 31/08/10

New Report Warns Against Attacking Iran

Paul Rogers | Oxford Research Group | July 2010

Issue:Global militarisation

The potential for an Israeli military strike on Iran over its nuclear programme has grown sharply, but its consequences would be devastating and would lead to a long war, warns a new report from the Oxford Research Group.

 

Image source: Rennett Stowe

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Posted on 15/07/10

Why START is only a beginning on the long road to nuclear disarmament

Andrew Futter | www.sustainablesecurity.org | June 2010

Issue:Global militarisation

The 'New START' agreement recently signed by the US and Russia is an important first step on the road to nuclear disarmament but much of the hard work in reducing and potentially eliminating the vast stockpiles of nuclear weapons held by nations across the globe is still to be done. Before any meaningful multilateral talks and possible agreements on abolition can seriously begin, the US and Russia will need to go much further in reducing their nuclear ordinance writes Andrew Futter, exclusively for sustainablesecurity.org

Image source: PhillipC

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Posted on 23/06/10

Less Is More: Sensible Defense Cuts to Boost Sustainable Security

John Norris & Andrew Sweet | Center for American Progress | June 2010

Issues:Climate change, Competition over resources, Global militarisation, Marginalisation

From the Center for American Progress:

“If we are to meet the myriad challenges around the world in the coming decades,” argues Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, then our “country must strengthen other important elements of national power both institutionally and financially, and create the capability to integrate and apply all of the elements of national power to problems and challenges abroad.” Gates’s experience leading our armed forces under two presidents underscores the importance of not relying solely on our unquestioned military might to protect our shores and national security interests around the globe. Instead, Gates maintains, we need to adopt the concept of sustainable security—a strategy that embraces the need to slim defense spending, bringing our own fiscal house in order while investing in nonmilitary economic and social development programs abroad to combat the conditions that breed poverty and political instability.

Article and image source: Center for American Progress

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Posted on 17/06/10

The UK and the NPT: Rhetoric, Simulations and Reality

Tim Street | ICAN-UK | May 2010

Issue:Global militarisation

Recently returned from the NPT Review Conference in New York, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons’ UK Co-ordinator, Tim Street, reflects on the UK’s contribution to the conference exclusively for sustainablesecurity.org. He writes that without sufficient progress on a legally-binding timeframe for disarmament, the current window of opportunity for nuclear abolition may not only close, but a new era of nuclear proliferation and terror may be opened.

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Posted on 26/05/10