Welcome to the March issue of SIPRI Update: Global Security & Arms Control. This monthly newsletter will be your source for the latest developments in international security, arms control, non-proliferation and regional conflict, including recent activities and publications at SIPRI.

In this issue:

• Ambassador Sergio Duarte writes on ‘The UN and disarmament: challenges and opportunities’
• New SIPRI book: Terrorism in Asymmetrical Conflict
• New research grants on small arms and light weapons
• Upcoming SIPRI news and events
• Recent SIPRI events
• SIPRI in the media
• SIPRI fact of the month
• SIPRI’s latest publications

Ambassador Sergio Duarte, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs

The United Nations has been a most fervent advocate for general and complete disarmament and arms regulation since its creation. Indeed, the first resolution adopted by the General Assembly in January 1946 identified the goal of eliminating all weapons ‘adaptable to mass destruction’. In working toward this ultimate goal, the UN, through its member states and the Office for Disarmament Affairs (ODA), has become increasingly adaptive in responding to the evolving nature of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons development.

Grand efforts to achieve general and complete disarmament in one comprehensive arrangement have given way to pragmatic agreements on parts of the greater cause. Hence, international treaties have been drawn up to create nuclear weapon-free zones in all major regions of the world. Such weapons have been banned from being tested above ground and, when the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) enters into force, even that option will finally be closed. In this connection, it is heartening to note that no tests have been conducted for over 10 years by the nuclear weapon states party to the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Continue reading . . .

SIPRI Director Bates Gill discussed the prospects of global nuclear disarmament in an interview with National Public Radio in the United States.

In Forbes, SIPRI Researcher Shannon Kile commented on the effects of the latest round of UN sanctions towards Iran.

SIPRI Research Associate Catalina Perdomo spoke to BBC News (Spanish) on Colombia’s recent cross-border raid into Ecuador and its implications for regional stability in South America.

Siemon Wezeman, leader of the SIPRI Arms Transfers Project, gave an assessment of the consequences of the recent arrest of Victor Bout, one of the world’s most notorious arms dealers, to NRC Next (in Dutch).

Figures from the SIPRI Arms Transfers Database and the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database were cited in the International Herald Tribune, a parliamentary report presented before the German Bundestag, The Guardian, and Defense Industry Daily, among many others.

This thought-provoking book challenges the conventional discourse on—and responses to—contemporary terrorism. It examines the synergy between the extremist ideologies and the organizational models of non-state actors that use terrorist means in asymmetrical conflict. This synergy is what makes these terrorist groups so resilient in the face of the counterterrorist efforts of their main opponents—the state and the international system—who are conventionally far more powerful.

The book argues that the high mobilization potential of the supra-national extremist ideology inspired by al-Qaeda cannot be effectively counterbalanced at the global level by either mainstream secular global ideologies or moderate Islam. Instead, it is more likely to be affected and transformed by radical nationalism. Unless the political transformation of violent Islamist movements in specific national contexts is encouraged and the transnational ideology of violent Islamism is ‘nationalized’, it is unlikely to be amenable to external influence or to be destroyed by repression.

This study examines the advantages, limitations and implications of involving foreign military assets—personnel, equipment and expertise—in the relief operations that follow major natural disasters. Foreign military assets have made large contributions to several recent natural disaster relief operations, yet their use in such operations remains controversial. The questions asked range from matters of principle—is it appropriate for foreign forces to take part in humanitarian work?—to more practical considerations such as cost, how effectively foreign military assets can participate in civilian-led humanitarian operations and how the presence of foreign military assets affects the ability of civilian humanitarian organizations to act independently and safely. This study provides an overview of the current use of foreign military assets in natural disaster response, including how and why they are deployed. It also analyses the role played by foreign military assets in several major disaster relief operations: in Mozambique following the floods in 2000, in Haiti following floods and tropical storm Jeanne in 2004, in Aceh province, Indonesia, following the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, and in Pakistan-administered Kashmir following the South Asia earthquake of 2005.

For information on SIPRI’s other recent and forthcoming books, visit the SIPRI Publications website, books.sipri.org

Other recent publications by SIPRI authors

Rose Gottemoeller, ‘Sergei Ivanov’s strategic breakthrough’, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 19 February 2008. Read this article in English or Russian

John Hart, ‘Looking back: the continuing legacy of old and abandoned chemical weapons’, Arms Control Today, March 2008. Read this article

Alyson J. K. Bailes, Jean-Yves Haine and Zdzislaw Lachowski, ‘Reflections on the OSCE–EU relationship’, OSCE Yearbook 2007 (Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft: Baden-Baden, 2008). Buy this book (from Nomos)

Stefan Berger and Paul Holtom, ‘Locating Kaliningrad and Königsberg in Russian and German collective identity discourses and political symbolism in the 750th anniversary celebrations of 2005’, Journal of Baltic Studies, vol. 39, no. 1 (March 2008), pp. 15–37.