Today's Fresh Blogs...

• Last Chance for the Conference on Disarmament?

  Published: August 12, 2007, 11:14 pm

  Tags: Conference On Disarmament, Npt, Mc Carthy, Fmt, Enmod, Btwc, Paros, Cwc, Fissile Material, Ctbt, Fmct, Bwc

  The Conference on Disarmament -- "the world's sole multilateral disarmament negotiating forum" as its 65 member States frequently remind us -- has featured either directly or tangentially in a number of postings on this blog (see in particular August 8 and March 28). And with good reason. In existence since 1983, the CD has negotiated such

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• Do "non-lethal" weapons really exist?

  Published: September 17, 2007, 4:02 am

  Tags: Taser, Chemical Weapons Convention, Ak 47, Tear Gas, Mc Carthy, Non Lethal Weapons, Cwc, Biological Weapons Convention, Riot Control, Moscow Theatre Siege, Bwc

  Last week, I spent a day with a very interesting mixture of people talking about so-called non-lethal weapons. It was quite the multi-stakeholder encounter.There was the demand side of the non-lethal equation; the police officers and soldiers who were interested in finding out what new technologies could provide in the way of enhanced

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• Signing Off for 2007

  Published: December 14, 2007, 9:05 am

  Tags: Npt, Oslo Process, Ammunition, Cluster Munitions, Fissile Material, Nuclear Weapons, Arms Trade Treaty, Erw, Bwc, Conference On Disarmament, Small Arms, Missiles, Biological Weapons

  The (thankfully quite uncontroversial) Meeting of States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention has just ended, bringing to a close a typically busy year of disarmament and arms control work in Geneva. In the previous posting, John Borrie reviewed 2007 as perceived and analysed through the lens of the Disarmament Insight blog. Before

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• Disarmament Grumblefest 2008

  Published: January 10, 2008, 2:42 am

  Tags: Conference On Disarmament, Npt, Wellington, Ccw, Oslo Process, Disarmament Machinery, Perceptions, Cluster Munitions, Bwc

  As we foreshadowed in December, 2008 is gearing up to be a busy year for disarmament in Geneva. From 21 January, the Conference on Disarmament (CD) will resume talks to try to get back to work after a decade of blockage and inertia, for instance. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty will meet for the second preparatory meeting to its upcoming

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• Synthetic biology & weapons: How soon is now?

  Published: January 28, 2008, 8:30 am

  Tags: Synthetic Biology, Btwc, Unintended Consequences, Nuclear Disarmament, Biological Weapons Convention, Non Proliferation, Borrie, Biological Weapons, Millett, Bwc

  Weapons Convention (BWC). What has always struck me is that in such an environment it's easy to get stuck in the long now: policy makers and diplomats know that big technological changes in the life sciences are on the way, and will have major ramifications for the effectiveness of the BWC regime. A cursory glance at the documents of

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• Civil Society Schizophrenia

  Published: February 26, 2008, 8:38 am

  Tags: Npt, Mc Carthy, Oslo Process, Cluster Munitions, Arms Trade Treaty, Bwc, Wilpf, Conference On Disarmament, Mine Ban Treaty, Unpoa, Ccw, Cluster Munition Coalition, Control Arms

  eventually lead the BWC to overtake the UN small arms process, which seems unable to move beyond a rudimentary openness to NGOs despite the vast amounts of research, field work and policy advice being churned out by civil society on this issue. Also, to their credit, a number of States in the Conference on Disarmament do regularly

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• Explaining Civil Society Schizophrenia

  Published: February 28, 2008, 11:47 am

  Tags: Npt, Civil Society, Mc Carthy, Ccw, Poa, Ottawa Convention, Cwc, Oslo Process, Multilateral Negotiations, Bwc

  Weapons Convention (BWC) -- UN Programme of Action on the Illict Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons (PoA) -- Convention on Certain Convention Weapons (CCW) -- Oslo Process on cluster munitions -- Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (Ottawa Convention)Now that we have diagnosed civil society schizophrenia as a pandemic afflicting

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• "How arms control's past shapes its future"

  Published: May 7, 2008, 11:06 am

  Tags: Chemical Weapons Convention, Npt, Schelling, Nuclear Disarmament, Biological Weapons Convention, Weapons Of Mass Destruction, Bwc

  Some of us took a break yesterday from the grind of the second week of the NPT PrepCom to attend a Geneva Forum brown bag lunch featuring University of Michigan historian of science Dr Susan Wright.Susan spoke about some of her recent research, around the topic "how arms control's past shapes its future: biological disarmament as a case study".

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• The Anthropocene question

  Published: August 15, 2008, 5:55 am

  Tags: Fact Based Analysis, Synthetic Biology, Technology, Enmod, Development, Climate Change, Nuclear Disarmament, Nuclear Weapons, Landmines, Bwc

  The International Herald Tribune ran an unusual article a couple days ago with the by-line 'Maybe science can save the planet: But should it?'.The article took as its starting point a proposal by a private American company, Plantos, for""fertilizing" parts of the ocean with iron, in hopes of encouraging carbon-absorbing blooms of plankton.

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• Blinkers and biological weapons

  Published: August 19, 2008, 9:51 am

  Tags: Verification, Civil Society, Biological Weapons Convention, Internet, Multilateral Negotiations, Bwc

  Weapons Convention (BWC). The treaty underwent a significant change in direction seven years ago, when efforts to negotiate a legally binding verification instrument were set aside. This prompted some, at the time, to suggest it was a regime on the verge of collapse - an image we are still fighting despite the BWC's stewardship process

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