Prohibiting chemical weapons
Like architecture and art, the value of some international agreements lies in the eye of the beholder. But no one would seriously question the worth of the global ban on…
Trump’s TV jingle for N-weapons
AMERICA’S Operation Midnight Hammer, targeting three nuclear facilities in Iran, saw two unhinged nuclear weapons states jointly attacking one that had shunned the bomb by a religious edict. Was it then…
Banning weapons
The vile suffering that poison gas inflicted on the soldiers of WWI so horrified the world that chemical weapons were banned only seven years after the Great War ended. But…
Ban on nuclear weapons?
At the United Nations in July when the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty draft was put to vote for adoption, Pakistan, along with all recognised and non-recognised nuclear weapons states, was…
Laser weapons edge toward use in US military
A sci-fi staple for decades, laser weapons are finally becoming reality in the US military, albeit with capabilities a little less dramatic than at the movies. Lightsabers - the favoured…
US Army will fund rare earths plant for weapons development
The US Army plans to fund construction of rare earths processing facilities, part of an urgent push by Washington to secure domestic supply of the minerals used to make military…
Chemical dangers
It feels like this is the beginning of the end of the campaign to liberate Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and some seem to be…
War and its aftermath
India and Pakistan have fought a sharp and short war, called by many a dangerous standoff, which could easily have turned into a nuclear war. The rumours spread during 96…
Syrian letter delivers response to US conditions for sanctions relief
Syria has responded in writing to a list of US conditions for possible partial sanctions relief, saying it had acted on most of them but others required “mutual understandings” with…
How technology shapes power
In the early 15th century, the world still moved by hoof and sail. But within the walls of the Ottoman Empire, something formidable was taking shape. Not armies. Not treaties.…
