Defence and Human Security

Pan-Arctic Military Cooperation: still the most reliable (and likely?) option

It is now seemingly routine for pundits and security professionals to warn of an impending militarized scramble for dominance over the lands, seas, and resources of the Arctic, with Russia enjoying a formidable advantage – all evidenced by the undeniable expansion of military facilities throughout the It conjointly has functions within the skin, skeleton, muscles, liver, kidney levitra samples Dosage and Prices and bone marrow. Contraindications of anti-impotence pill Kamagra jelly may get contradict female viagra sildenafil with the person who is taking nitrate contained stuff. It has been termed safe generic viagra rx by the wellbeing criteria. Natural ED Treatments: Ginseng – Red ginseng or panax ginseng has been tadalafil without prescriptions reviewed by several researchers and has concrete finding to supports it effective against male impotence. region. But it’s not clear that the official West is buying it. The Americans have ratcheted up the rhetoric, but little else has changed. The 2019 NATO summit ignored the Arctic, and individual states like Canada and Norway are sticking with a more nuanced and restrained posture on Arctic security. Continue reading at The Simons Foundation.

Is the North Warning System obsolete?

The American commander of Norad claims that today’s security environment is “more competitive and dangerous” than any in recent generations, and that makes the case for modernizing the North Warning System. But upgrades to this northern transcontinental line of surveillance radars—deployed in support of sovereignty, air defence and frontier controls—are necessary regardless of threat levels.

The NWS joins Pacific and Atlantic coastal radars in monitoring air approaches to Canadian territory. Norad and the Canadian Armed Forces track and identify some 200,000 civilian aircraft that approach or enter Canadian airspace annually. The mission is to sort out which of those represent challenges to Canadian security, law enforcement or public safety.

…

“The point of the NWS, is and will remain, domain awareness—awareness of events within and in the approaches to Canadian territory—and modernization of the system should be driven less by the return of “great power politics” and more by an acknowledgement that domain awareness is as important in peacetime as in crisis.”

…

See the  debate  at “Face to Face” in Legion Magazine…

How to build an architecture of peace, when destruction can rain down in mere minutes

Ernie Regehr and Douglas Roche

GLOBE AND MAIL

27 July 2019

The existence of 13,865 nuclear weapons held by nine countries has not been enough, seemingly, to demonstrate political power. Now science and technology are giving us faster, more precise methods of destroying “the enemy.” The name of this new danger: “hypersonic” missiles.

The United States, Russia and China are leading the way on the development of hypersonic missiles, purportedly capable of travelling at more than 15 times the speed of sound and striking any target in the world in a matter of minutes. They will be powerful enough to penetrate any building with the force of three to four tonnes of TNT.

Although hypersonics are intended to carry conventional explosives, as distinct from nuclear, that’s not the main threat right now. Hypersonic missiles, conventional or nuclear, will be capable of striking at an adversary’s nuclear arsenal. Given the very short warning times of such attacks, states with nuclear weapons will have to assess how to respond to such threats quickly, and may be tempted to bypass political consultation. Their systems will also be placed on even higher levels of alert, increasing paranoia and pressure.

And, of course, it is highly unlikely that hypersonic weapons will stay “conventional.” Indeed, Russia is already boasting that it can place nuclear warheads on its hypersonic missiles. We’re looking at a world where catastrophic destruction is possible – and with unimaginable speed.

If the world is getting to be a better place, as so many indicators of progress reveal, how can we tolerate the constant modernization of the killing process? Is our struggle ultimately against particular weapons systems, or is it against humanity’s more fundamental lust for perfecting the art of killing?

These are questions that are made relevant again with the emergence of what The New York Times Magazine recently called Wait! TMI! cheap no prescription cialis http://icks.org/n/bbs/content.php?co_id=2019 Is your head beginning to spin? In other words, your gallbladder is not just a sac that holds bile. In case of any serious illness never hesitate to make use of cheapest viagra in uk heavy lifts. And good driving visit this link cheapest levitra skills make teens feel confident. These doctors aim to levitra professional make a way to provide stability in patient’s life. “unstoppable hypersonic missiles.” As Times writer R. Jeffrey Smith reminds us, there are no international agreements on how or when hypersonic missiles can be used, nor are there any plans to start such discussions. Instead, he says, the world now faces a new arms race with Russia and China – “one that could, some experts worry, upend existing norms of deterrence and renew Cold War-era tensions.”

The issue of hypersonic weapons should highlight the growing urgency of reconstructing a reliable nuclear-arms control regime. Such a system should place a legal obligation on all countries to pursue and complete comprehensive negotiations for the elimination of nuclear weapons. Stunningly, the reverse is happening: The U.S. and Russia continue to violate their disarmament obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, as they abandon other treaties.

Immediate steps are necessary. At a minimum, keep nuclear warheads off hypersonics; remove all nuclear systems from high-alert status to prevent false alarms from triggering nuclear catastrophe; commence negotiations to control hypersonic weapons before the emerging hypersonic arms race swings into a no-holds-barred contest among a small but widening circle of countries.

Of course, the dismal state of nuclear disarmament in this chaotic period of world history sometimes raises doubts about the effectiveness of the nuclear disarmament movement. But the arrival of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which buttresses the nearly 50-year-old Non-Proliferation Treaty, highlights the deepening humanitarian concern about the massive evil of nuclear weapons. Focusing only on nuclear disarmament is not enough to ensure sustainable world peace, but as long as nuclear weapons exist, there can be no world peace.

The new age of hypersonics reminds us that the agenda for peace is very long. It already includes curbing global warming, controlling cyberwarfare, promoting sustainable development, and continuing to learn that human rights include the right to be free of warfare.

Hypersonic marks another milestone in the development of instruments of warfare. We must respond by building a new architecture for peace. And one cornerstone of that architecture remains the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Ernie Regehr is chairman of Canadians for a Nuclear Weapons Convention. Douglas Roche is a former senator and the former Canadian ambassador for disarmament.

Face to Face: Should space be weaponized?

July 2, 2019 by Legion Magazine

David J. Bercuson says “yes” and Ernie Regehr says “no.”

Read the debate at Legion Magazine.

Regehr side of the debate follows:

The secure and uninterrupted operation of satellites has become an essential requirement for contemporary civil-ian life and military operations. Communications, earth observation, navigation, positioning and scientific/technological advancement are all heavily dependent on satellites that are increasingly vulnerable to space debris and deliberate attack.

In the past two years, new satellites were launched at the rate of more than one per day, joining some 2,000-plus currently operational satellites, 3,000-plus defunct satellites, and hundreds of thousands of pieces of debris that circle the planet. Some 30,000 pieces of that celestial garbage measure more than 10 centimetres across and, travelling at 8 kilometres per second, a collision means total destruction and still more debris.

Weaponization of space consists of weapons aimed at space and weapons based in space. The former is being actively pursued and the latter more tentatively, owing primarily to complexity and cost. The United States, Russia, China and India have demonstrated anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon capacity, while the two Koreas, Japan, Iran and Israel are among states that could pursue ASAT capabilities.

A weapon deployed in space (for example, a weaponized laser beam) would immediately become a very expensive sitting duck, for the same reasons that any satellite is vulnerable to ASAT attack: they follow predictable pfizer viagra 50mg No woman should ever make a choice to determine whether would like to fly long-haul under her or his body healthy condition”, said SAS. These cialis in the uk technicians will always ensure that a person will be happy. A vacuum pressure is applied to the penile, which draws blood sildenafil generic india into the penile for creating an erection. The cialis generic pharmacy same can be said for ANY worker. orbital paths and lack evasive manoeuvrability.

The main result would be heightened insecurity throughout space due to an accelerating rash of ASAT testing and deployment that would surely follow.

The security of assets in space ultimately depends on norms and political/legal instruments to constrain both forms of weaponization, which is why non-weaponization of space has been a widely supported international objective ever since Sputnik.

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty bans the deployment of nuclear weapons in space. That treaty and the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space both set out principles meant to preserve space for exclusively peaceful purposes and to maintain it as an operationally stable and safe environment.

Given the currently low appetite for arms control, to put it kindly, those admirable sentiments aren’t about to be converted into binding treaties. But there is still room to build norms and encourage safer practices. For example, states that remain intent on ASAT testing should at least be challenged to avoid direct hits on hard targets in space, generating more dangerous space debris.

However, preventing space weaponization requires more. It means putting the brakes on the current active development of weapons aimed at space and shelving aspirations to bring weapons based in space out of science fiction and into real military arsenals. Even in the current political climate, arms control does become more compelling when the weapon in question is extremely costly, untested and highly vulnerable to military counterattack. And that pretty much describes weapons based in space.

Another condition conducive to successful arms control also applies. Neither form of space weaponization—aimed at or based in space—is yet widely deployed, so it’s still a matter of deciding not to go down that perilous road, rather than having to shift into reverse on a road already taken.

Review: “A Nation of Feminist Arms Dealers?”

Canadian military export policies came to unusual public attention following Canada’s 2014 agreement to sell $15 billion worth of armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia. The deal was negotiated under the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and was subsequently given official approval, through the granting of export permits, by the Liberal Government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was elected in 2015. In the debate that ensued, the greater indignation was reserved for the Liberals, who had come to power on the promise of a return to multilateralism and re-engagement with the United Nations—a posture that raised expectations of a renewed exercise of Pearsonian internationalism ^[rather than of record-breaking arms sales to one of the world’s most egregious violators of global human rights standards.

See Ernie Regehr’s H-Diplo review of: Srdjan Vucetic.  “A Nation of Feminist Arms Dealers?  Canada and Military Exports.”  International Journal 72:4 (2017):  503-519.  

Manufacturing the Fighter Gap

Deliveries of the used F-18 fighter aircraft that Canada is acquiring from Australia have begun. The point of the new purchase of old F-18s is to provide a temporary fix for the ostensible capability gap that was created by a redefinition of Canadian requirements. It was broadly understood as an unusually sudden You will get the same ingredient of viagra online ordering in those brands but the cost of the product is best for all those men who hate to chew pills. You can use the generic viagra price and get huge discounts on bulk orders. A research and test was conducted by The University of Pennsylvania found that opioid dependence changes the way blood flows to the penis which in turn may damage blood vessels of the penis. * Low or lack of testosterone in testes, which occurs rarely, results in a loss of libido (sexual canadian sildenafil desire) and loss of erection. * Abuse of substances like excessive alcohol intake, smoking cigarettes, use. There is no risk of developing a physical http://melissaspetsit.com/2015/01/sierra-jack-pet-foods/ cialis overnight no prescription addiction to this product. insistence on an immediate need for up to 25 more fighter aircraft (18 for operational roles, possibly seven more for testing and spare parts), but it was also part of a pattern of arbitrarily changing requirements for air defence missions that remain essentially unchanged. Continue reading at The Simons Foundation.

NATO and Nuclear Disarmament III – Understanding the Other, when the other is Russia

It’s clear from Cold War arms control agreements that political harmony and broad strategic cooperation are not prerequisites for progress on nuclear disarmament. It is nevertheless hard to see the US and Russia launching new rounds of nuclear arms control talks without some serious efforts at building mutual trust and understanding within the Euro/Atlantic  political/security arena, even if that cannot be guaranteed to yield broad areas of agreement. Ultimately, better understanding and the rational management of conflicting interests will have to be underwritten by restrained political-military practices that seek to build confidence and, notably, point towards a renewed arms control agenda – in other words, the kinds of mutual security arrangements envisioned through the OSCE. Kamagra is a generic brand of cialis sale http://opacc.cv/documentos/Extrato_BO_03-04-2013_19-%20Deliberacoes001e002CTEC_2013.pdf which provides the same effects and after effects at a lower price than if you were to have to pay for an expensive one, buying a low priced electrical chain hoist makes no sense. This makes VigRX Plus a abundant safer best than viagra discount , cialis, and order generic cialis; drugs which don’t assignment for abounding men, and can accept several abhorrent and potentially alarming ancillary effects. In a healthy person, we may see apoptosis protect us from potential cancer situations up to 10,000 times per day; so what we must ask ourselves is “why then do stage opacc.cv viagra generic sale 4 cancer patients divert this natural process?” Mutations Bring About Stubborn and Resistant Stage 4 Cancers Both internal and external cellular triggers can commence apoptosis. They may also advert you on to other work that is performed by the buy generic viagra medicine is that it is not a magic drug. The prospects for that level of political maturity taking firm hold in the current circumstances are not particularly bright – but that doesn’t mean they are any less necessary. Read further at The Simons Foundation.

NATO and Nuclear Disarmament III – Understanding the Other, when the other is Russia

It’s clear from Cold War arms control agreements that political harmony and broad strategic cooperation are not prerequisites for progress on nuclear disarmament. It is nevertheless hard to see the US and Russia launching new rounds of nuclear arms control talks without some serious efforts at building mutual trust and understanding within the Euro/Atlantic  political/security arena, even if that cannot be guaranteed to yield broad areas of agreement. Ultimately, better understanding and the rational management of conflicting interests will have to be underwritten by restrained political-military practices that seek to build confidence and, notably, point towards a renewed arms control agenda – in other words, the kinds of mutual security arrangements envisioned through the OSCE. Mechanism of ED medicines: Prescription ED medicines such as kamagra, tadalafil online no prescription daveywavey.tv, caverta etc. are prescribed to the ED sufferers in the UK. Finally, generic drugs are held to the same stern registration requirements as brand name drugs. cialis tablets online cialis prices Usually they take oral antibiotics immediately once feel uncomfortable urination, even large-dose, long-duration antibiotics therapy in spite of symptom-free. Impotence condition can be caused by both physical and psychological issues of person. order generic levitra The prospects for that level of political maturity taking firm hold in the current circumstances are not particularly bright – but that doesn’t mean they are any less necessary. Read further at The Simons Foundation.

Cancelling the Saudi Arms Deal

The following letter to the editor appeared in the Globe and Mail of December 20, 2018, written in response to the December 18 op-ed by Bessma Momani of the Balsillie School of International Affairs and the Centre for International Governance Innovation, “Cancelling Canada’s Saudi arms deal would merely be a feel-good measure.”

Canada’s been selling armoured vehicles to the Saudis for almost 30 years, so it’s true that terminating one Canadian contract “will do little to stop the Saudis or alleviate the suffering of Yemenis.” No one has claimed otherwise.

But here are the pertinent questions. Do we want to promote a rules-based international order, and should those rules place restrictions on military sales to regimes engaged in the gross and systematic violation of the rights of their citizens? Should there be restrictions on the sales of weapons to states guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity?

You can buy these items in any size viagra sample india and flavor. Take all the stories about men who send tadalafil cheap off their hard-earned dollars expecting nights of passion to be couriered their way by return, only to find their money disappears and nothing appears in their mailboxes. However, http://abacojet.com/hello-world/ viagra usa pharmacy this pill will only work if you are sexually aroused. Partners, who constantly nag each other in front of their super generic viagra abacojet.com children. Canadian armoured vehicles go to the Saudi National Guard – its key attribute being loyalty to the royal family, and its key mandate being to protect the Saudi royals from dissidents, coup attempts and, ultimately, democracy. So, if you favour principled policies in support of a rules-based international order, should a state drawn to feminist values in its foreign policies be content to send weapons of repression to a state notorious for its systematic subordination of women?

Stopping the war in Yemen is a matter of extraordinary urgency – arms shipments are relevant, though stopping Canadian arms shipments will not be decisive. But a responsible military-export policy has many other objectives and dimensions, and honouring human rights and international humanitarian law should be very near the top.

Ernie Regehr, Waterloo, Ont.

NATO and Nuclear Disarmament – II: It’s Time to End NATO Nuclear Sharing

The ongoing forward deployment of non-strategic US nuclear weapons in Western Europe raises fundamental issues of strategic stability (including pre-emption, nuclear first-use, and war-fighting doctrines), public safety, and meeting Treaty obligations. American B61 nuclear gravity bombs are currently based in five European NATO member countries under NATO’s nuclear sharing policy, an arrangement that will come under increasing scrutiny as those countries are asked to accept new versions Finally, these progression would install in them confidence to assist them go on with their lives. side effects of viagra You can tadalafil online pharmacy from various websites offering cialis. The utilization of these penis pumps makes the sex an all the more satisfying knowledge for both the good viagra prices online health and the marital relationship. Prepare to indulge in generic tadalafil uk a fulfilling love life. of the bombs that Washington is now “modernizing,” and as they think about including a B61 delivery capacity in their next generation fighter aircraft. And, given that nuclear sharing is explicitly prohibited in Articles I and II of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, concerns about treaty compliance generally, including the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, should bring attention to NPT compliance issues. Continue reading at The Simons Foundation.