Global Security Briefs
by Michael Renner on February 13, 2006 Next month, all eyes should be on Indonesia, as the parliament decides on
a key element of the peace agreement between the Indonesian government and
the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM). One year after the powerful Indian
Ocean tsunami devastated Aceh—making peace in the province attainable
after 29 years of conflict—a lasting solution seems within grasp.
by Michael Renner on December 6, 2005 The massive tremor that struck northern Pakistan and Kashmir on October 8, 2005 cut through a fault line of conflict that has divided Pakistan and India for 58 years. The epicenter of the quake was near the cease-fire line demarcating Indian- and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir—the so-called Line of Control. With the death toll unofficially pegged at close to 90,000, the disaster within mere minutes inflicted even greater suffering than that wrought by 16 years of conflict: since 1989, an estimated 40,000 to 80,000 people have been killed in the region.
by Hilary French on September 1, 2005 In a meeting that is billed as the largest gathering of world leaders in history, more than 170 Heads of State and Government will gather at United Nations headquarters in New York next week for the 2005 World Summit, a special gathering of the U.N. General Assembly to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. Over three days, world leaders have a historic opportunity to forge a new global consensus on the role of the U.N. in confronting key global security threats of the 21st century, including underlying sources of instability such as human deprivation and environmental decline.
by K. Conca - A. Carius - G. D. Dabelko on July 1, 2005 Environmental degradation triggers intense social conflict that is sometimes accompanied by violence. Pollution, natural resource depletion, and the rapid conversion of coastlines, wetlands, watersheds, and forests can have dramatically negative consequences for communities that depend on them for livelihoods and healthy environments. For example, the World Commission on Dams estimated that some 40-80 million people have been swept out of the way to make room for the world’s large dams. Environmental protection initiatives can also trigger conflict and controversy, particularly when local communities are not consulted about the terms of their access to natural systems targeted for conservation.
by A. T. Wolf - A. Kramer - A. Carius - G. ... on June 1, 2005 “Water wars are coming!” the newspaper headlines scream. It seems obvious—rivalries over water have been the source of disputes since humans settled down to cultivate food. Even our language reflects these ancient roots: “rivalry” comes from the Latin rivalis, or “one using the same river as another.” Countries or provinces bordering the same river (known as “riparians”) are often rivals for the water they share. As the number of international river basins (and impact of water scarcity) has grown so do the warnings that these countries will take up arms to ensure their access to water. In 1995, for example, World Bank Vice President Ismail Serageldin claimed that “the wars of the next century will be about water.”
by Paul F. Walker on May 1, 2005 Weapons of mass destruction (WMD)—nuclear, chemical, and biological—have long been viewed as extremely dangerous, deadly, and indiscriminate means for killing large numbers of combatants and civilians, and for laying waste to vast territories. The two uses of nuclear weapons in combat, by the United States in August 1945, clearly demonstrated the enormous destructive potential of atomic bombs. The 12.5- kiloton Hiroshima bomb, “Little Boy,” killed over 100,000 Japanese instantly, with many more killed or injured from radiation in subsequent years. “Fat Man,” dropped three days later on Nagasaki and estimated at 22 kilotons, killed more than 70,000 people and has left a much longer-term legacy of radiation death and injury.
by Janet L. Sawin on April 1, 2005
As early as 1988, scientists cautioned that human tinkering with the Earth's climate amounted to "an unintended, uncontrolled globally pervasive experiment whose ultimate consequences could be second only to a global nuclear war." Since then, hundreds of scientific studies have documented ever-mounting evidence that human activities are altering the climate around the world. A growing number of international leaders now warn that climate change is, in the words of U.K. Chief Scientific Advisor David King, "the most severe problem that we are facing today—more serious even than the threat of terrorism."
by Richard Cincotta on March 1, 2005 Washington, DC— From continent to continent and across race and religion, the “demographic” of insurgency, ethnic conflict, terrorism, and state-sponsored violence holds constant. The vast majority of recruits are young men, most of them out of school and out of work. It is a formula that hardly varies, whether in the scattered hideouts of Al Qaeda, on the backstreets of Baghdad or Port-au-Prince, or in the rugged mountains of Macedonia, Chechnya, Afghanistan, or eastern Colombia.
by Christopher Flavin on December 1, 2004 Washington, DC—One of the central issues facing policy makers in Washington and around the globe in 2005 is the prospect of further instability in world oil markets. This new reality carries both economic and security risks. Another oil shock could tip the world economy into a premature recession, while the massive flow of oil revenues into the Persian Gulf and Russia threatens to derail economic reforms and foment political unrest.
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