A US military ‘base’ in Darwin will necessitate foreign weapons systems and armaments being stockpiled, retained and transited on and in Australian territory. That is likely to be yet another international embarrassment for Australian arms control, writes NAJ Taylor
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UNITED STATES
The “bomb Iran” contagion: don’t believe the hype
In the week since the nuclear watchdog agency, the IAEA, issued its report on Tehran’s alleged nuclear weapons programme, there has been an alarming amount of hype concerning the immediacy of any Iranian nuclear weaponisation. This pressure is emanating from governments of Israel (who in some circles want to “preemptively” strike Iran) and the US (who appear [...]
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Criminalizing diplomacy: fanning the flames of the Iran War option
How many times have we heard in recent weeks either outright threats to attack Iran mainly emanating from Israel or the more muted posture adopted by the United States that leaves ‘all options’ on the table including ‘the military option’? What has Iran done to justify this frantic war-mongering in a strategic region that is sorting out the contradictory effects of [...]
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Australia driving the push for nuclear disarmament? Hardly
Fifteen years ago in The Hague, the International Court of Justice – the highest legal authority in the world – handed down one of its most contentious advisory opinions. To the chagrin of the nuclear powers, it declared that all governments are legally obliged to disarm, and to do so without unreasonable delay. “The destructive [...]
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Remember, Tehran’s “nuclear ambiguity” was learnt from Israel
Consider this: you are a willing outcast, with few solid friends and many formidable enemies. How do you survive? By trying to convert enemies to friends, or by instilling fear in your many enemies? More than any other state on earth, Iran is presently keeping her enemies on their toes – expertly. Iran categorically and [...]
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After Libya, what now for the ‘responsibility to protect’?
Seven months after the UN Security Council authorised the use of force in Libya, Muammar Qadhafi is dead. As for the ‘responsibility to protect’ (R2P) that triggered the military action to protect civilians, how far has it been advanced by the liberation of Libya? R2P is a principle that legitimates coercive measures, as a last [...]
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The Bush Doctrine has been quietly revived by Obama
In a recent speech at the Harvard Law School, John Brennan, President Obama’s chief advisor on counterterrorism and homeland security, boldly declared: “I’ve developed a profound appreciation for the role that our values, especially the rule of law, play in keeping our country safe.” The most notable feature of the remarks that followed was the legal [...]
READ MORELibya after Muammar el-Qaddafi’s execution
The death of the despised despot who ruled Libya for forty-two years naturally produced celebrations throughout the country. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s end was bloody and vindictive, but we should remember that his rants against his own people—and his violent repression of what was initially a peaceful uprising—invited a harsh popular response. Recalling W.H. Auden’s famous line, “Those to whom evil [...]
READ MOREWounding of a soldier in #Occupy Oakland
As equally as the Occupy movement has spread globally, so too have police actions to disrupt occupiers in the name of enforcing local ordinance regulations. Bay Area Rapid Transit police stormed Occupy Oakland dispersing occupiers using teargas grenades and so-called ‘less-lethal’ munitions. There are also unconfirmed reports of flash grenades and the LRAD sonic weapon (aka the [...]
READ MOREFrom Soviet scraps to backpack drones: the weapons of Libya’s rebels
In the early months, rebel forces fought Colonel Gaddafi’s men using weapons and weapons systems cobbled together using scraps from the Soviet era. As time got on — and thanks to the NATO intervention — rebel weapons became a lot more hi-tech
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