Syria And The Chemical Weapons Taboo

Author : Michelle Bentley
Publisher : Manchester University Press
Page : 261 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2016-09-26
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781526104748

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Syria and the chemical weapons taboo by Michelle Bentley Pdf

This book analyses the Syria crisis and the role of chemical weapons in relation to US foreign policy. The Syrian government's use of such weapons and their subsequent elimination has dominated the US response to the conflict, where these are viewed as particularly horrific arms - a repulsion known as the chemical taboo. On the surface, this would seem to be an appropriate reaction: these are nasty weapons and eradicating them would ostensibly comprise a 'good' move. But this book reveals two new aspects of the taboo that challenge this prevailing view. First, actors use the taboo strategically to advance their own self-interested policy objectives. Second, that applying the taboo to Syria has actually exacerbated the crisis. As such, this book not only provides a timely analysis of Syria, but also a major and original rethink of the chemical taboo, as well as international norms more widely.

Author : Richard M. Price
Publisher : Cornell University Press
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2018-09-05
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781501729546

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The Chemical Weapons Taboo by Richard M. Price Pdf

Richard M. Price asks why, among all the ominous technologies of weaponry throughout the history of warfare, chemical weapons carry a special moral stigma. Something more seems to be at work than the predictable resistance people have expressed to any new weaponry, from the crossbow to nuclear bombs. Perceptions of chemical warfare as particularly abhorrent have been successfully institutionalized in international proscriptions and, Price suggests, understanding the sources of this success might shed light on other efforts at arms control.To explore the origins and meaning of the chemical weapons taboo, Price presents a series of case studies from World War I through the Gulf War of 1990–1991. He traces the moral arguments against gas warfare from the Hague Conferences at the turn of the century through negotiations for the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993. From the Italian invasion of Ethiopia to the war between Iran and Iraq, chemical weapons have been condemned as the "poor man's bomb." Drawing upon insights from Michel Foucault to explain the role of moral norms in an international arena rarely sensitive to such pressures, he focuses on the construction of and mutations in the refusal to condone chemical weapons.

Author : Jonathan Tucker
Publisher : Anchor
Page : 466 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2007-12-18
Category : History
ISBN : 9780307430106

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War of Nerves by Jonathan Tucker Pdf

In this important and revelatory book, Jonathan Tucker, a leading expert on chemical and biological weapons, chronicles the lethal history of chemical warfare from World War I to the present. At the turn of the twentieth century, the rise of synthetic chemistry made the large-scale use of toxic chemicals on the battlefield both feasible and cheap. Tucker explores the long debate over the military utility and morality of chemical warfare, from the first chlorine gas attack at Ypres in 1915 to Hitler’s reluctance to use nerve agents (he believed, incorrectly, that the U.S. could retaliate in kind) to Saddam Hussein’s gassing of his own people, and concludes with the emergent threat of chemical terrorism. Moving beyond history to the twenty-first century, War of Nerves makes clear that we are at a crossroads that could lead either to the further spread of these weapons or to their ultimate abolition.

Author : Joby Warrick
Publisher : Doubleday
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2021-02-23
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780385544474

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Red Line by Joby Warrick Pdf

In Red Line, Joby Warrick, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Black Flags, shares the thrilling unknown story of America’s mission in Syria: to find and destroy Syria’s chemical weapons and keep them out of the hands of the Islamic State. In August 2012, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was clinging to power in a vicious civil war. When secret intelligence revealed that the dictator might resort to using chemical weapons, President Obama warned that doing so would cross “a red line.” Assad did it anyway, bombing the Damascus suburb of Ghouta with sarin gas, killing hundreds of civilians, and forcing Obama to decide if he would mire America in another unpopular war in the Middle East. When Russia offered to broker the removal of Syria’s chemical weapons, Obama leapt at the out. So began an electrifying race to find, remove, and destroy 1,300 tons of chemical weapons in the midst of a raging civil war. The extraordinary little-known effort is a triumph for the Americans, but soon Russia’s long game becomes clear: it will do anything to preserve Assad’s rule. As America’s ability to control events in Syria shrinks, the White House learns that ISIS, building its caliphate in Syria’s war-tossed territory, is seeking chemical weapons for itself, with an eye to attack the West. Drawing on astonishing original reporting, Warrick crafts a character-driven narrative that reveals how the United States embarked on a bold adventure to prevent one catastrophe but could not avoid a tragic chain of events that led to another.

Author : Rajendra M. Abhyankar
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 310 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2020-09-08
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9789811545627

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Syria by Rajendra M. Abhyankar Pdf

The book focuses, through multiple levels of international reality, on the pervasive and widespread effect of the Syrian civil war on the unravelling of established norms---both global or national--- which have determined international relations during the last seven decades. It postulates that since 2011, the Syrian situation has catalysed the breakdown of the international system based on the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions. The core international values fostered by that system now laid waste, among others, are sovereignty, non-interference, sanctity of UN Security Council approval for waging war, human rights, protection of civilian populations, and the right of people to choose their own governments/leaders. By making the UNSC powerless in providing humanitarian assistance or fostering cease-fire and peace-making it has called into question the principles which have been held immutable for seventy years. More importantly, these norms have been breached by their originators. The book takes a wider perspective melding together the civil war’s international, regional and national consequences to understand how and why this one event has radiated profound consequences for the international system.

Author : Robert J. Bunker
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 86 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2019-12-26
Category : Chemical warfare
ISBN : 1651262683

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Contemporary Chemical Weapons Use in Syria and Iraq by the Assad Regime and the Islamic State by Robert J. Bunker Pdf

This monograph focuses on an understudied, but yet a critically important and timely component of land warfare, related to the battlefield use of chemical weapons by contemporary threat forces. It will do so by focusing on two case studies related to chemical weapons use in Syria and Iraq by the Assad regime and the Islamic State. Initially, the monograph provides an overview of the chemical warfare capabilities of these two entities; discusses selected incidents of chemical weapons use each has perpetrated; provides analysis and lessons learned concerning these chemical weapons incidents, their programs, and the capabilities of the Assad regime and the Islamic State; and then presents U.S. Army policy and planning considerations on this topical areas of focus. Ultimately, such considerations must be considered vis-à-vis U.S. Army support of Joint Force implementation of National Command Authority guidance.

Author : Richard MacKay Price
Publisher : Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms International
Page : 680 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 1994
Category : Chemical arms control
ISBN : OCLC:34219944

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A Genealogy of the Chemical Weapons Taboo by Richard MacKay Price Pdf

Author : Glenn Cross
Publisher : Helion and Company
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2017-03-21
Category : History
ISBN : 9781912866960

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Dirty War by Glenn Cross Pdf

Dirty War is the first comprehensive look at the Rhodesia’s top secret use of chemical and biological weapons (CBW) during their long counterinsurgency against native African nationalists. Having declared its independence from Great Britain in 1965, the government—made up of European settlers and their descendants—almost immediately faced a growing threat from native African nationalists. In the midst of this long and terrible conflict, Rhodesia resorted to chemical and biological weapons against an elusive guerrilla adversary. A small team made up of a few scientists and their students at a remote Rhodesian fort to produce lethal agents for use. Cloaked in the strictest secrecy, these efforts were overseen by a battle-hardened and ruthless officer of Rhodesia’s Special Branch and his select team of policemen. Answerable only to the head of Rhodesian intelligence and the Prime Minister, these men working alongside Rhodesia’s elite counterguerrilla military unit, the Selous Scouts, developed the ingenious means to deploy their poisons against the insurgents. The effect of the poisons and disease agents devastated the insurgent groups both inside Rhodesia and at their base camps in neighboring countries. At times in the conflict, the Rhodesians thought that their poisons effort would bring the decisive blow against the guerrillas. For months at a time, the Rhodesian use of CBW accounted for higher casualty rates than conventional weapons. In the end, however, neither CBW use nor conventional battlefield successes could turn the tide. Lacking international political or economic support, Rhodesia’s fate from the outset was doomed. Eventually the conflict was settled by the ballot box and Rhodesia became independent Zimbabwe in April 1980. Dirty War is the culmination of nearly two decades of painstaking research and interviews of dozens of former Rhodesian officers who either participated or were knowledgeable about the top secret development and use of CBW. The book also draws on the handful of remaining classified Rhodesian documents that tell the story of the CBW program. Dirty War combines all of the available evidence to provide a compelling account of how a small group of men prepared and used CBW to devastating effect against a largely unprepared and unwitting enemy. Looking at the use of CBW in the context of the Rhodesian conflict, Dirty War provides unique insights into the motivation behind CBW development and use by states, especially by states combating internal insurgencies. As the norms against CBW use have seemingly eroded with CW use evident in Iraq and most recently in Syria, the lessons of the Rhodesian experience are all the more valid and timely.

Author : John P. Caves,W. Seth Carus
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 108 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2021
Category : Deterrence (Strategy)
ISBN : OCLC:1260632773

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The Future of Weapons of Mass Destruction: an Update by John P. Caves,W. Seth Carus Pdf

Author : Bretislav Friedrich,Dieter Hoffmann,Jürgen Renn,Florian Schmaltz,Martin Wolf
Publisher : Springer
Page : 404 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2017-11-26
Category : History
ISBN : 9783319516646

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One Hundred Years of Chemical Warfare: Research, Deployment, Consequences by Bretislav Friedrich,Dieter Hoffmann,Jürgen Renn,Florian Schmaltz,Martin Wolf Pdf

This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license. On April 22, 1915, the German military released 150 tons of chlorine gas at Ypres, Belgium. Carried by a long-awaited wind, the chlorine cloud passed within a few minutes through the British and French trenches, leaving behind at least 1,000 dead and 4,000 injured. This chemical attack, which amounted to the first use of a weapon of mass destruction, marks a turning point in world history. The preparation as well as the execution of the gas attack was orchestrated by Fritz Haber, the director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Berlin-Dahlem. During World War I, Haber transformed his research institute into a center for the development of chemical weapons (and of the means of protection against them). Bretislav Friedrich and Martin Wolf (Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, the successor institution of Haber’s institute) together with Dieter Hoffmann, Jürgen Renn, and Florian Schmaltz (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science) organized an international symposium to commemorate the centenary of the infamous chemical attack. The symposium examined crucial facets of chemical warfare from the first research on and deployment of chemical weapons in WWI to the development and use of chemical warfare during the century hence. The focus was on scientific, ethical, legal, and political issues of chemical weapons research and deployment — including the issue of dual use — as well as the ongoing effort to control the possession of chemical weapons and to ultimately achieve their elimination. The volume consists of papers presented at the symposium and supplemented by additional articles that together cover key aspects of chemical warfare from 22 April 1915 until the summer of 2015.

Author : Organisation mondiale de la santé,World Health Organization,Julian Perry Robinson,WHO,World Health Organization Staff
Publisher : World Health Organization
Page : 365 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2004-01-21
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9789241546157

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Public Health Response to Biological and Chemical Weapons by Organisation mondiale de la santé,World Health Organization,Julian Perry Robinson,WHO,World Health Organization Staff Pdf

This is the second edition of this publication which focuses on the public health aspects of the possible deliberate use of biological or chemical agents. Issues discussed include: the key principles for public health planning, risk assessment, hazard identification and evaluation, risk management strategies, and response planning as part of existing national emergency plans, disease surveillance and early warning systems, the national and international legal framework, and international sources of assistance. Technical annexes cover a range of issues including chemical agents, toxins, biological agents, principles of protection, precautions against the sabotage of drinking water, food and other products, information resources and the affiliation of WHO Member States to the international treaties on biological and chemical weapons.

Author : Walter Krutzsch,Eric Myjer,Jonathan Herbach,Ralf Trapp
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 763 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2014
Category : History
ISBN : 9780199669110

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The Chemical Weapons Convention by Walter Krutzsch,Eric Myjer,Jonathan Herbach,Ralf Trapp Pdf

The Chemical Weapons Convention is one of the cornerstone disarmament and arms control agreements, and the only global and comprehensive disarmament treaty that is being verified by an international agency. This Commentary assesses the provisions of the Convention and its implementation, with cross-cutting chapters providing a broader analysis.

Author : K. Coleman
Publisher : Springer
Page : 198 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2005-05-23
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780230501836

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A History of Chemical Warfare by K. Coleman Pdf

This book provides an analysis of the development and deployment of chemical weapons from 700BC to the present day. The First World War is examined in detail since it remains the most significant experience of the chemical threat, but the Second World War, and post-war conflicts are also evaluated. Additionally, protocols attempting to control the proliferation and use of chemical weapons are assessed. Finally, the book examines the threat (real and imagined) from a chemical warfare attack today by rationally assessing to what extent terrorist groups around the world are capable of making and using such weapons.

Author : Vil S. Mirzayanov
Publisher : Outskirts Press
Page : 604 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : History
ISBN : 1432725661

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State Secrets by Vil S. Mirzayanov Pdf

"The Mirzayanov case is an immediate legal litmus test of emerging Russian democracy. He is an individual in the true tradition of Andrei Sakharov, a man persecuted under the former regime for telling the truth, but now, rightfully, universally honored."--Dan Ellsberg, author.

Author : W. Seth Carus,National Defense University (U S ),National Defense University. Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction
Publisher : Government Printing Office
Page : 80 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2017-08-03
Category : History
ISBN : 0160941482

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A Short History of Biological Warfare by W. Seth Carus,National Defense University (U S ),National Defense University. Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction Pdf

This publication gives a history of biological warfare (BW) from the prehistoric period through the present, with a section on the future of BW. The publication relies on works by historians who used primary sources dealing with BW. In-depth definitions of biological agents, biological weapons, and biological warfare (BW) are included, as well as an appendix of further reading on the subject. Related items: Arms & Weapons publications can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/arms-weapons Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT & CBRNE) publications can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/hazardous-materials-hazmat-cbrne