Evolution and Devolution: The Dynamics of Sovereignty and Security in Post-Cold War Europe by Tom Lansford

Author:Tom Lansford [Lansford, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781351768726
Google: pRamDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 52674348
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2000-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Proliferation Controls

The continued proliferation of WMDs and their delivery systems, especially to states with known ties to terrorist organizations, has created an impetus for collaborative defense planning and intelligence exchanges to counter such risks.81 The March 1995, nerve gas attack on a Tokyo subway has demonstrated the potential of terrorists using CWs, and the ongoing struggle of groups such as the IRA or the Basque separatist movement raise the possibility of terrorist groups using WMDs or the threat of WMDs to accomplish politico-military goals.82 Within the United States, the recent arrest of two men for possession of anthrax in the United States further demonstrates the potential for terrorist use of chemical and biological weapons.83

Of notable concern in the area of proliferation are so-called dual-use technologies—materials and equipment that are sold for commercial purposes, but may have military applications. Dual-use technologies exist in all three areas of NBC weapons considerations. For instance, in the nuclear field, Russia continues to sell plutonium 238 as a power source for space programs, including satellites, despite evidence that the material can easily be converted for use in nuclear weapons.84 The Iraqi purchase of the Osirak experimental reactor from France in 1976 was supposedly for commercial purposes, but it has since been discovered that the Iraqis used the reactor to produce HEU. Commercial nuclear reactors are especially troubling since even IAEA guidelines allow for a detectable “loss” of as much as 263 kilograms of plutonium per year (enough plutonium to make 33 large nuclear weapons a year).85 Also, Iraq acquired most of the materials used to produce mustard gas which it used against Kurds from Germany and Switzerland, and Great Britain continued to sell Iraq “growth mediums,” ostensibly for use in growing hospital cultures, but also used to produce biological weapons, even after it was discovered that the amount of materials being sold to Iraq far exceeded the needs of Iraqi hospitals.86

The proliferation of dual-use technologies is likely to only increase in the coming years. As competition in the defense industry continues to increase as markets decline, military producers are increasing the amount of material that they produce which can have civilian applications. While he was still Deputy Secretary of Defense, John Deutch estimated that by the turn of the century, 70 per cent of the products manufactured by defense companies will have commercial or dual-use capabilities.87 The only effective means of preventing the sale of potentially dangerous technologies and materials is through increased export controls. The European states have incorporated the broad concerns over WMD proliferation and export controls into a series of framework regimes which seek to establish and enforce international norms forbidding the development or transfer of WMDs. As a WEU report summarized.

The proliferation of all weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their delivery means continues to constitute a threat to international and European peace and security. A European priority in this field has been to pursue universal participation in and compliance with, multilateral disarmament and non-proliferation conventions such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation

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