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Publisher Description
This foundational primer offers a comprehensive analysis of the evolution and current status of weapons of mass destruction and seeks to inform and advance policy debate in ways that support international security, while also adding important connective tissue between analytical areas in the IR and historical domains that often remain separate.
When Tom Lehrer sang 'We'll all go together when we go', the world was gripped by fear of nuclear holocaust: the ultimate endgame of every Cold War powerplay. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the threat was assumed to have gone away. But Libya, Iraq, Iran and North Korea are building weapons of mass destruction. The next live Scud missile launch could signal the next Hiroshima. Robert Hutchinson investigates the history of weapons of mass destruction, from biological warfare during World War I to the atomic weapons of World War II and the Cold War. He reveals that Russia did indeed build the 'Doomsday' nuclear missile system featured in DR STRANGELOVE, but not until the 1980s: and it is still switched on! Chemical weapons remain the 'poor man's nuke'. And as the attack on the Tokyo subway demonstrated, weapons of mass destruction are now available to terrorist organizations as well as 'rogue' nation states.
The spread of weapons of mass destruction poses one of the greatest threats to international peace and security in modern times--the specter of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons looms over relations among many countries. The September 11 tragedy and other terrorist attacks have been painful warnings about gaps in nonproliferation policies and regimes, specifically with regard to nonstate actors. In this volume, experts in nonproliferation studies examine challenges faced by the international community and propose directions for national and international policy making and lawmaking. The first group of essays outlines the primary threats posed by WMD proliferation and terrorism. Essay...
Crucial information on nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons From the diseased animal carcass hurled over the wall of a besieged castle to the nuclear suitcase bomb carried by a clandestine operative, the threat of unconventional weapons has always been a feature of warfare. Today's danger comes mainly from the potential use of nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by international terrorists or rogue states. False alarms and misinformation about these weapons have abounded in the jittery post-9/11 atmosphere. To understand and deal with the actual threat posed requires basing response plans, policy, and reporting on actual facts. Introduction to Weapo...
The establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons, a concept more recently broadened to cover all weapons of mass destruction (WMD), has been before the international community for decades. In this book, two experts from the region explore why the matter remains unresolved, and outline a comprehensive yet achievable roadmap to a Middle East free of WMD. Weapons of mass destruction pose an existential threat to global peace and security. But nowhere is it more urgent to stem their spread than in the Middle East, a region fraught with mistrust and instability. Accounting for these geopolitical realities, including the ongoing talks to curb Iran’s nuclear program, the authors pr...
Adrian Mole is thirty-four and three quarters, almost officially middle-aged, when Mr Blair tells Parliament that weapons of mass destruction can be deployed in forty-five minutes and can reach Cyprus. Adrian is worried that he might not get a refund on his holiday. But that?s not all that is bothering him. There?s his odd girlfriend Marigold who has become distressingly New Age. And his son Glenn who is in Deepcut Barracks. Would Mr Blair have been quite so keen if it had been his son manning a roadblock?
We've come a long way from the Peashooter Era: with the advent of modern household products and office supplies - foldback clips, clothespins, rubber bands, ballpoint pens, toothpicks, paper clips and plastic utensils - the everyday junk drawer can hold all the materials needed to create pocket-sized weaponry. Whether you're slowing dying of boredom in a stuffy office, plotting revenge on your older siblings or simply looking for a wonderful way to kill some time, this book is for you. Toy designer John Austin provides detailed, step-by-step instructions for each project, including materials and ammo lists, clear pictures, and construction tips, for mayhem-loving MacGyvers. The 35 devices in...
This book examines the use of concepts – specifically ‘weapons of mass destruction’ (WMD) – in US foreign policy discourse. Current analysis of WMD definition has made headway into identifying the repercussions that the conceptual conflation of such diverse weapons – typically understood as a reference to nuclear, biological and chemical weapons – has for international security. While the concept assumes these weapons are ‘equal’, the vast disparity between them, and their disparity from the conventional weapons from which they are supposedly distinct, means this approach is seen as unreflective of reality, causing miscalculations in security policy. Not least, this has highl...
This book focuses on Biopreparat, the Soviet agency created in 1974, which spearheaded the largest and most sophisticated biological warfare programme the world has ever seen. At its height, Biopreparat employed more than 30,000 personnel and incorporated an enormous network embracing military-focused research institutes, design centres, biowarfare pilot facilities and dual-use production plants. The secret network pursued major offensive R&D programmes, which sought to use genetic engineering techniques to create microbial strains resistant to antibiotics and with wholly new and unexpected pathogenic properties. During the mid-1980s, Biopreparat increased in size and political importance and also emerged as a major civil biopharmaceutical player in the USSR. In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, an acute struggle for control of Biopreparat’s most valuable assets took place and the network was eventually broken-up and control of its facilities transferred to a myriad of state agencies and private companies.