Contemporary issues, International issues

(Terrorism, WMD, WAR)

TERRORISM
■ Terrorism is the systematic use of terror.
■ Terrorism refer to violent acts which are intended to
• create fear (terror),
• perpetrated for a religious, political or ideological goal,
• deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (civilians).
Factors responsible for Terrorism:

• Poverty
• Strife
• Injustice
• Oppression
• Separatism
• Extremism
• Despair
• Discrimination
• Resentment against the existing regime
• Feeling of insignificance, etc.
Terrorism can be classified as:

• Civil disorder
• Political terrorism
• Non-Political terrorism
• Quasi-terrorism
 
■ All terrorist acts are motivated by two things:
 
• Social injustice
• Political injustice

■ People choose terrorism when they are trying to right what they perceive to be a social or political
or historical wrong—when they have been stripped of their land or rights, or denied these.
■ The belief that violence or its threat will be effective, and usher in change.
Effects of Terrorism :

• Loss of Life
• Loss of Property
• Economic Loss
• Environmental Degradation
• Mental Trauma
• Disfiguration of Society
• Destroys the apparatus of freedom in democratic societies
• Subverts progress
Targets of Terrorism:

• civilians in order to create an atmosphere of fear, intimidation, and insecurity

• diplomats and diplomatic facilities such as embassies and consulates

• military personnel and military bases

• business executives and corporate offices

• transportation vehicles and facilities, such as airlines and airports, trains and train stations, buses and bus terminals,
and subways

• On buildings to ensure more casualties

Demand of Terrorist Organization:

• Total remaking of society along ideological lines to far narrower goals

• Release of hostages for money or some another demands
• Publication of a tract stating the terrorists
• Demand for Releasing of some specific people
Some Major Terrorist Attacks
11 Sep 2001
crashing of hijacked planes into World Trade Center, New York City, New York,
Pentagon in Alexandria, Virginia, and site in Pennsylvania, USA
fatalities 2,993
injuries 8,900

11 Mar 2004
bombings of four trains in Madrid, Spain
Fatalities 191
injuries 1,876

1-3 Sep 2004

hostage taking at school in Beslan, Russia (includes 30 terrorists killed)
Fatalities 366
injuries 747
 
■ 18 Oct 2007
■ bombing of motorcade in Karachi, Pakistan
■ fatalities 140
■ injuries 540
■
■ 19 Aug 2009
■ multiple bombings at government sites in Baghdad, Iraq
■ fatalities 102
■ Injuries 500

■ 26-29 Nov 2008

■ multiple shooting and grenade attacks and hostage takings in Mumbai, India (includes 9 terrorists killed)
■ fatalities 174
■ Injuries 370
■
■  
Weapons of mass destruction

■ Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) include chemical, biological, and radiological

agents with the potential to cause death at low doses and with serious long term health
effects in survivors.
Types of Weapons of Mass Destruction

There are three types of WMD’s:

• Biological,
• Chemical
• Nuclear.
Biological Weapons of Mass Destruction

■ Biological WMD’s were first used the United States in 1763 when British officers
planned to distribute blankets with smallpox. Attempts such as this continued during
war as soldiers were steadfast in killing off their enemies. Today, however, the use of
biological weapons have been used primarily by individuals, rather than groups. Types
of biological weapons include bacterial, which is plague, anthrax or Q fever. Viruses,
including small pox, hepatitis, the avian influenza, and toxins, such as botchalism, ricin
and staff. There are three ways biological weapons work: One is contact with the skin,
two is gastrointestinal, and three is pulmonary. This type of weapon is quite hazardous
and easy to create or get a hold of. A biological attack on the United States could cause
casualties not only locally but globally as well due to the issue of spreading.
Chemical Weapons of Mass Destruction

■ Chemical WMD’s go back as early as 1000 BC, when the Chinese used arsenic smoke.
They were used extensively in World Wars I and II. More recently in 1995, sarin was
used to attack subway trains in Tokyo byalm. And ricin was found in a motel room in
2008 in Las Vegas. Types of chemical weapons include blister agents, blood agents,
choking hazard agents, nerve agents, tear gas, vomiting agents and psychiatric
compounds. Chemical weapons work by either making contact to the skin or through
consumption. This type of weapon is not as dangerous as biological weapons due to the
inefficiency, the need for significant amount of the chemical, and as it relates to a lower
number of casualties. The main difference however, between biological and chemical
weapons is that chemical is immediate. Nevertheless, a chemical attack would have to
have a very sophisticated delivery system in order to have a significant effect
Nuclear Weapons of Mass Destruction

■ Of the three types of WMD’s, nuclear weapons represent the greatest threat. There are a few ways to
acquire a nuclear weapon: smuggling such weapon into the US, combining radiological materials with a
conventional explosive device across a wide area, utilizing conventional explosive attacks, nuclear
facilities, and or materials already in the US, and acquiring a chemical that can be weaponized and
deployed against a population. While WMD’s instill fear in the American people, there are a few reasons
that keep terrorists from actually using such methods: organizational capabilities, financial resources,
and logistical resources, knowledge, skills, and acquisitions, materials and technology acquisitions,
production, weaponization, and delivery. State sponsorship terrorist groups may decide to acquire and
use WMD’s for ideological reasons to enhance their state's or group's prestige in a region of the world,
provide a country with more leverage in the world community or for strategic motivational factors.
Regardless of their actual decision, WMD’s can be destructive. There are nine countries possessing
nuclear weapons, numerous countries possessing chemical and biological weapons, and 29 countries are
suspected to have or had biological chemical weapons programs. For this reason there remains the
potential for terrorist groups to cause mass casualties and disrupt a nation's or region's economy.
■ After World War II, the Hague convention was signed. This made it illegal to use
weapons of mass destruction. The Geneva Convention, another official document, was
signed in London, Moscow, and Washington on April 10, 1972. This particular
Convention prohibited the use and production of chemical and biological weapons.
While this particular document makes it illegal, most countries are still accused of
making such weapons. Everyone was fearful that the Japanese and Germans were
developing such weapons
Use, possession and access
Nuclear weapons
The only country to have used a nuclear weapon in war is the United States, which dropped two atomic
bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.
There are eight countries that have declared they possess nuclear weapons and are known to have
tested a nuclear weapon, only five of which are members of the NPT. The eight
are China, France, India, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Israel is considered by most analysts to have nuclear weapons numbering in the low hundreds as well,
but maintains an official policy of nuclear ambiguity, neither denying nor confirming its nuclear status.
South Africa developed a small nuclear arsenal in the 1980s but disassembled them in the early 1990s,
making it the only country to have fully given up an independently developed nuclear weapons
arsenal. Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine inherited stockpiles of nuclear arms following the break-up
of the Soviet Union, but relinquished them to the Russian Federation.
Countries with access to nuclear weapons through nuclear sharing agreements include
Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Turkey.
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

■ The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation
Treaty or NPT, is an international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons
and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and to further
the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament.

■ Opened for signature in 1968, the treaty entered into force in 1970. As required by the text, after
twenty-five years, NPT Parties met in May 1995 and agreed to extend the treaty indefinitely.[3] More
countries have adhered to the NPT than any other arms limitation and disarmament agreement, a
testament to the treaty's significance.[2] As of August 2016, 191 states have adhered to the treaty,
though North Korea, which acceded in 1985 but never came into compliance, announced its
withdrawal from the NPT in 2003, following detonation of nuclear devices in violation of core
obligations.[4] Four UN member states have never accepted the NPT, three of which are thought to
possess nuclear weapons: India, Israel, and Pakistan.
Treaty structure

■ non-proliferation,
■ disarmament,
■ the right to peacefully use nuclear technology
non-proliferation

■ Under Article I of the NPT, nuclear-weapon states pledge not to transfer nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices to
any recipient or in any way assist, encourage or induce any non-nuclear-weapon state in the manufacture or acquisition of a
nuclear weapon. Under Article II of the NPT, non-nuclear-weapon states pledge not to acquire or exercise control over nuclear
weapons or other nuclear explosive devices and not to seek or receive assistance in the manufacture of such devices. Under
Article III of the Treaty, non-nuclear-weapon states pledge to accept IAEA safeguards to verify that their nuclear activities serve
only peaceful purposes.
■ Five states are recognized by NPT as nuclear weapon states (NWS): China (signed 1992), France (1992), the Soviet Union (1968;
obligations and rights now assumed by the Russian Federation), the United Kingdom (1968), and the United States (1968). These
five nations are also the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
■ These five NWS agree not to transfer "nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices" and "not in any way to assist,
encourage, or induce" a non-nuclear weapon state (NNWS) to acquire nuclear weapons (Article I). NNWS parties to the NPT
agree not to "receive", "manufacture", or "acquire" nuclear weapons or to "seek or receive any assistance in the manufacture of
nuclear weapons" (Article II). NNWS parties also agree to accept safeguards by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
to verify that they are not diverting nuclear energy from peaceful uses to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices
(Article III
disarmament

■ Under Article VI of the NPT, all Parties undertake to pursue good-faith negotiations on
effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race, to nuclear
disarmament, and to general and complete disarmament
peaceful use of nuclear energy

■ NPT Article IV acknowledges the right of all Parties to develop nuclear energy for
peaceful purposes and to benefit from international cooperation in this area, in
conformity with their nonproliferation obligations. Article IV also encourages such
cooperation.
■ The third pillar allows for and agrees upon the transfer of nuclear technology and
materials to NPT signatory countries for the development of civilian nuclear energy
programs in those countries, as long as they can demonstrate that their nuclear programs
are not being used for the development of nuclear weapons
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

■ The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is a multilateral treaty that

bans all nuclear explosions, for both civilian and military purposes, in all environments.
It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 September 1996, but has
not entered into force, as eight specific states have not ratified the treaty.
Obligations

■ Each State Party undertakes not to carry out any nuclear weapon test explosion or any
other nuclear explosion, and to prohibit and prevent any such nuclear explosion at any
place under its jurisdiction or control.
■ Each State Party undertakes, furthermore, to refrain from causing, encouraging, or in
any way participating in the carrying out of any nuclear weapon test explosion or any
other nuclear explosion.
Status

■ The Treaty was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 September

1996. It opened for signature in New York on 24 September 1996, when it was signed
by 71 States, including five of the eight then nuclear-capable states. As of October 2016,
166 states have ratified  the CTBT and another 17 states have signed but not ratified it.
■ The treaty will enter into force 180 days after the 44 states listed in Annex 2 of the
treaty have ratified it. These "Annex 2 states" are states that participated in the CTBT’s
negotiations between 1994 and 1996 and possessed nuclear power reactors or research
reactors at that time. As of 2016, eight Annex 2 states have not ratified the
treaty: China, Egypt, Iran, Israel and the United States have signed but not ratified the
Treaty; India, North Korea and Pakistan have not signed it.
Subsequent nuclear testing

■ Three countries have tested nuclear weapons since the CTBT opened for signature in
1996. India and Pakistan both carried out two sets of tests in 1998. North Korea carried
out six announced tests in 2006, 2009, 2013, two in 2016 and one in 2017. All six North
Korean tests were picked up by the International Monitoring System set up by the
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization Preparatory Commission. A
North Korean test is believed to have taken place in January 2016, evidenced by an
"artificial earthquake" measured as a magnitude 5.1 by the U.S. Geological Survey. The
first successful North Korean hydrogen bomb test supposedly took place September
2017. It was estimated to have an explosive yield of 120 kilotons 
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