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.

Wikileaks reveals Arctic could be the new cold war

Greenpeace UK | Greenpeace UK | May 2011

Issues:Climate change, Competition over resources, Global militarisation

New Wikileaks releases today have shown the Arctic oil rush is not just a threat to the environment and our climate, but also to peace. The documents show how deadly serious the scramble for Arctic resources has become. And the terrible irony of it is that instead of seeing the melting of the Arctic ice cap as a spur to action on climate change, the leaders of the Arctic nations are instead investing in military hardware to fight for the oil beneath it. They’re preparing to fight to extract the very fossil fuels that caused the melting in the first place.

Article source: Greenpeace UK

Image source: U.S. Geological Survey

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A New Strategy for the US: From the Control Paradigm to Sustainable Security

Schuyler Null | The New Security Beat | May 2011

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

Writing for the New Security Beat, Schuyler Null discusses a recent event on creating a new national security narrative for the US held at the Woodrow Wilson Center. The event was based on a white paper by two active military officers writing under the pseudonym “Mr. Y” (echoing George Kennan’s famous “X” article). In “A National Strategic Narrative,” Captain Wayne Porter (USN) and Colonel Mark Mykleby (USMC) argue that the United States needs to move away from an outmoded 20th century model of containment, deterrence, and control towards a “strategy of sustainability.”

Image source: LizaP.

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New Films on Nuclear Threats and the Prospects for Disarmament

Issue:Global militarisation

Two new films in TalkWorks’ series about nuclear disarmament have been released. In the latest instalments, Baroness Shirley Williams and Sir Jeremy Greenstock give their personal perspectives on the current state of affairs regarding nuclear dangers and progress with the multilateral nuclear disarmament agenda.

Image source: Kingdafy.

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Sustainable Security and Environmental Limits

Rachel Tansey | Quaker Council for European Affairs | May 2011

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

The Quaker Council for European Affairs publicises a briefing on the topic of Sustainable Security, specifically highlighting environmental concerns:

"The treatment of the natural world by humankind has contributed towards the two related major trends that are likely to drive insecurity in the coming decades: climate change and competition over natural resources."

Article source: Quaker Council for European Affairs

Image source: kretyen

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The economic relationship of armed groups with displaced populations

Josep Maria Royo Aspa | Forced Migration Review | March 2011

Issues:Global militarisation, Marginalisation

Practically all armed groups are heavily dependent on external support. Armed groups primarily seek support from both other states and from the diasporas, displaced populations and other armed groups, in order to prevent the burden of  the war effort from falling entirely on the civil population they claim to protect, a situation that has its own political costs. States too need external support to deal with outbreaks of instability and violence; during the Cold War this was normal and it still continues today in most current armed conflicts.

Image source: Gustavo Montes de Oca

Article source: Forced Migration Review

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NGOs Call for Immediate and Full Reporting of Every Casualty in Libya

NGO coalition | Oxford Research Group | April 2011

Issues:Global militarisation, Marginalisation

As rebel forces reportedly claim that 10,000 deaths have occurred and up to 55,000 have been injured since the start of the conflict in Libya, a group of NGOs have sent a call to those intervening in Libya to commit to properly monitoring and recording every casualty in the conflict.

This call is made in the belief that the accurate recording and reporting of all casualties will benefit accountability, any assessment of the international intervention, and humanitarian programming.

Article source: Oxford Research Group

Image source: Defence Images

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