This paper attempts to compile nuclear events, including weapon use and tests as well as debates surrounding nuclear winter. It also briefly discusses these devastating environmental effects in the light of a hypothetical nuclear war between two South Asian nuclear neighbours.
This paper is an effort to assess empirical evidence related to threat perception of one of the most dreaded biological weapon of mass destruction, Ricin. The evidence shows a realistic view to the notorious perception of Ricin, suggesting a need to reform the CWC policies!
On April 29,1997,the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), the first ever multilateral disarmament agreement entered into force along with the birth of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), an international chemical weapons disarmament regime, after years of negotiations under the auspices of United Nation’s Conference on Disarmament. and Preparatory Commission. The OPCW’s objective is to accomplish the Convention’s mandate ‘to end the development, production, stockpiling, transfer and use of chemical weapons’. It also has to ensure the ‘elimination of existing stocks of such weapons’. Two decade later, on the twentieth anniversary of OPCW it is imperative to recollect the journey so far and also to ascertain whether the regime succeeded in making the world safer from the threat of chemical weapons or warfare.This issue brief takes a broad overview of the journey of CWC and OPCW during the last two decades.
In absence of a national security strategy (NSS), the task of intelligence agencies in India has failed to be systemic. India’s intelligence infrastructure lacks a holistic view and very less effort has been put to reorganize intelligence infrastructure on the basis of contemporary threat perceptions. Without a strong security infrastructure country cannot eye towards becoming a regional power. Due to a rigid security system, India has a disparate intelligence mechanism in service. While little effort has gone towards synergizing all sources of intelligence and request dissemination in real time/ near real time basis. This paper attempts to outline a number of points, which would help to develop a more superior external intelligence infrastructure.
The threat of chemical and biological terrorism emanating from non-state actors, including the Islamic Jihadi organisations, which control large swathes of territories and resources, remains a major concern for nation states today. Over the years, the capability and intentions of Islamic jihadist groups have changed. They evidently prefer for more destructive and spectacular methods. This can be very well argued that if these weapons systems, materials or technologies were made available to them, they probably would use it against their enemy to maximize the impact and fear factor.
Once the negotiations for FMCT start, a window of opportunity would open up for the Conference on Disarmament to develop a legally binding mechanism to eliminate fissile material and nuclear weapons from the face of the earth, attaining the objective of universal and comprehensive disarmament.
While Chinese official statements classify the McMahon Line with India as an “Imperial Imposition’ and hence invalid, the same McMahon Line was utilized by China as the basis to delimit a section of the Sino-Burma border.
The quinquennial review conference of the NPT is to be held from April 27 to May 22, 2015. After the failure of the last NPT RevCon held in 2010 hope has once again re-surfaced amongst the international community, including India for a strengthened nuclear non-proliferation regime. The initial success of the three Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) meetings held in 2012, 2013 and 2014 is believed to have laid the foundation for successful NPT deliberations that is expected to reduce the salience on nuclear weapons and steer the world towards nuclear disarmament.
The UNSCR 1540 is a visionary approach to address the threat of WMD proliferation beyond the state-centric approach. It amalgamates the entire range of multilateral obligations and controls relating to WMD-related technology and material. However, it has to bridge a few missing links at the methodological and attitudinal levels to prove optimum and universal.
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