Defense and Security Studies Commons^™

The Final Fight: The 2008 Battle Of Sadr City, Geoffrey Ensby

Honors Projects in History and Social Sciences

Iraq following the US invasion in March of 2003 was a dangerous place, and one in which the national government struggled to maintain control while unsanctioned and unauthorized strongmen and their militias controlled wide swaths of territory. This analysis will thus look at the 2008 Battle of Sadr City between the militia of radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the military forces of Iraq and the US conducting the operation in concert. Utilizing a number of newspaper accounts and editorials, journal articles, recent books, and freelance journalists’ writings, several key aspects will be considered regarding how Iraq was changed for …

Demining Programme Office In The Falkland Islands - Technical Support 2010, Colin King, Fenix -. Insight

Global CWD Repository

A series of three reports were published by the Demining Programme Office in the Falkland Islands (Malvinas).

This report outlines the technical support provided to the demining programme during the Austral summer of 2009/2010. The majority of the technical support provided fell into two categories:

• Detection: activities intended to enable the contractor to establish their detection capabilities against the minimum-metal mines.
• Exploitation: examination of recovered mines in order to observe the effects of aging and assess their implications.

April Roundtable: Genocide And Us National Interests Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“How Genocide Became a National Security Threat” by Michael Abramowitz & Lawrence Woocher. Foreign Policy. February 26, 2010.

Do Drones Have A Silver Lining?, David Akerson

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Michael Abramowitz and Lawrence Woocher’s article, “How Genocide Became a National Security Threat,” flags an important milestone in American foreign policy, namely that mass atrocities might now be appropriately viewed as the national security threats that they are. The problem with translating this policy development into action is the next and not insignificant challenge. Aerial drones may be key to overcoming it.

Genocide Myopia: How Reframing Mass Atrocity Could Backfire, Sonia Cardenas

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The United States has long viewed genocide and mass atrocity as tragic, moral problems divorced from national interests. This may be changing under the Obama administration, with genocide and mass atrocity being reframed as problems to be solved pragmatically. Michael Abramowitz and Lawrence Woocher celebrate this “unprecedented breakthrough” in Foreign Policy, urging President Obama to follow up with specific measures: strategic military planning, interagency coordination, firm leadership, and concrete action on Darfur. Despite the promise of overcoming inaction and focusing on prevention, the new vision of genocide and mass atrocity Abramowitz and Woocher depict remains myopic. It is narrowly focused …

A Break From The Old Routine...., Todd Landman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Abramowitz and Woocher highlight a potentially significant shift in policy discourse in international relations with respect to humanitarianism and the prevention of genocide. For many years, the United States has suffered from the twin problems of the human rights “double standard” and “Catch-22.” On the one hand, particular countries have been seen as vital by the United States for intervention on humanitarian grounds even though many believed other geostrategic interests are at stake (e.g. Kosovo in 1999) and others have not (e.g. Rwanda in 1994). On the other hand, US intervention on humanitarian grounds can be criticized as heavy-handed or …

On Genocide And The National Interest, James Pattison

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In the second presidential debate, Barack Obama said, in response to a question about the crisis in Darfur, that “when genocide is happening, when ethnic cleansing is happening somewhere around the world and we stand idly by, that diminishes us. And so I do believe that we have to consider it as part of our interests, our national interests, in intervening where possible.” In a similar vein, Michael Abramowitz and Lawrence Woocher highlight how genocide is increasingly being seen as a security threat by the White House.

National Mine Action Plan For The Period 2010-2023 For Vietnam, The Socialist Republic Of Vietnam

Global CWD Repository

The outline of the National Mine Action Plan Period 2010-2025 in Vietnam. Translated in English and includes original Vietnamese text.

Maturing International Cooperation To Address The Cyberspace Attack Attribution Problem, Jeff J. Mcneil

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

One of the most significant challenges to deterring attacks in cyberspace is the difficulty of identifying and attributing attacks to specific state or non-state actors. The lack of technical detection capability moves the problem into the legal realm; however, the lack of domestic and international cyberspace legislation makes the problem one of international cooperation. Past assessments have led to collective paralysis pending improved technical and legal advancements. This paper demonstrates, however, that any plausible path to meaningful defense in cyberspace must include a significant element of international cooperation and regime formation.

The analytical approach diverges from past utilitarian-based assessments to …

The Illogic Of The Biological Weapons Taboo., Phillip M. Mccauley, Rodger A. Payne

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Border Conflict And Tibet: The Asian Giants And Their History Of Power Struggle, Evan Towt

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The South Asian world is dominated by India and China, their combined populations equaling almost a full half of humankind. In 1962, the two countries clashed over their border. The main reason for the war was the contest over large areas of territory claimed by both countries. The border still has not been adequately defined. This essay examines the border dispute from its roots in history, through the 20th century and into the present. It was the goal of this work to give an unbiased account of the dispute, though the weight of evidence in favor of the Indian claim …

Eu Defence Integration And Nuclear Weapons: A Common Deterrent For Europe?, Ursula Jasper, Clara Portela

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Nuclear weapons remain the unquestioned core of the defence postures of both France and the United Kingdom. At the same time, the European Union is progressively enhancing its Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), notably through the establishment of a European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). Yet, despite evident progress in the CFSP, whose ultimate purpose is to lead to a ‘common defence policy’, EU member-states still deal with nuclear issues on a predominantly national basis. What is the alleged purpose of European nuclear forces? How is the raison d’être of the French and British nuclear deterrents conceptualized against the …

Annals Of Psychological Warfare: How To Induce Panic, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author discusses the phenomenon of panic in a wartime setting because of psychological warfare, as well as in other settings.

The Birds And The Bees: Sex And Personnel Security, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author discusses gender identity and sexual activity as they relate to security personnel in the context of espionage.

Ddasaccident827, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

On the 16th March 2010 at [International demining organisation] task CBU 478, an uncontrolled detonation of a US M series M77 sub-munition occurred while [International demining organisation] searcher [the Victim] was conducting sub-surface instrument search.

[The Victim] sustained fragmentation injuries to his right leg in the thigh and lower leg. When he stood on an unstable rock in his clearance lane, this caused a sub-munition underneath the rock to detonate.

Based on all available evidence, the BOI team concludes that the accident occurred due to the failure of [the Victim] to carry out a sufficient check of the rocks and …

Why Terrorism? Whose Terror?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author considers terrorism as a competitor for the legally constituted authority and power of governments.

Ddasaccident733, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

On 15 March 2010 at 08:55 hrs while [the Victim] was busy in excavation of a detected signal, suddenly the accident happened. As a result the deminer got severe injuries on his face, eyes and his right hand.

Ddasaccident645, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

When we arrived to the site the team leader gave us the morning safety brief and he warned us to be very alert about as we work on mine clusters, at 07:30 am I entered my site and the team leader came to direct me to make more space in the clearing area of missing mines, he told me to move to lane one later after finishing my work at the missing mine, lane one is a mixed mine area( has both types of mines M15 and M14 ) and asked me to clear M14 mines because the anti tank …

Gender Guidelines For Mine Action Programmes, Unmas

Global CWD Repository

In 2004–05, the Inter-Agency Coordination Group for Mine Action (IACG-MA) endorsed the first UN Gender Guidelines for Mine Action Programmes to enhance the integration of gender considerations into UN mine action programmes. The guidelines were developed with the assistance of the International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA). This effort followed the launch by DPKO in 2004 of the Gender Resource Package for Peacekeeping Operations, which identified key gender issues and provided an overview of how they could be addressed most effectively. The package, designed on the strong foundation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), recommended elaborating detailed guidelines within …

Geographic Trajectories Of Al-Qaida And Taliban Terrorist Groups In Pakistan, Syed Manzar Abbas Zaidi

Journal of Strategic Security

Though Western analysts tend to mention al-Qaida and Taliban in Pakistan in the same context, the dynamics of their relationship are far more complex than a cursory examination would reveal. The context of this relationship is best understood within the overarching paradigm of militant activities of post 9/11 Taliban and al-Qaida remnants in Pakistan's tribal areas, where these groups flourish. The military struggle in Afghanistan has significantly influenced the formation of a loosely structured alQaida/Taliban "nexus" that was forged in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), particularly Waziristan. In order to survive the ongoing North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military …