Pakistan Weighs Death Penalty for Biological Weapons Users

Wednesday, June 30, 2010 -Pakistan is considering imposing strong penalties that include the death sentence for those found guilty of developing, producing or deploying biological weapons, The News reported today (see GSN, Jan. 6).


Islamabad's governing Cabinet is set to consider legislation containing the proposed penalties today at the request of the nation's Foreign Office. The biological weapons measure, needed for Islamabad to fulfill international commitments, would move on for a parliamentary vote after receiving approval from the Cabinet.


Pakistan is a member state to the Biological Weapons Convention.


Under the draft law, use or attempted use of biological agents in Pakistan or other nations would be punishable by death. Those found to have prepared, produced, purchased, stockpiled or sold biological weapons on Pakistani land could be imprisoned for life.


Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir notified the Cabinet that the proposed measure would apply to Pakistani citizens whether they violate the weapons ban inside or outside the country. The law would also apply to visitors to the South Asian nation.


Technology related to biological weapons and delivery technology including engineering designs and how-to guides would also be outlawed, though the proposed law would allow research work carried out for scientific purposes or to develop countermeasures.


Individuals found guilty of physically supporting or financially aiding the violation of the biological weapons ban could be fined and face prison sentences up to life imprisonment (Rauf Klasra, The News, June 3  More >>>


Brief overview of BWC Treaty Click Here

Defense Experts Want More Explicit Climate Models

SAN DIEGO June 24th 2010 -- Tell us what you don't know.

That's the message military and national security experts gathered here want to send to climate scientists.

While political leaders on Capitol Hill seek definitive answers about how quickly the world's climate will change, military and national security experts say they're used to making decisions with limited information.

But as they turn their attention to the geopolitical implications of climate change, they're pressing scientists to help them understand the risk and uncertainty inherent in forecasts of future environmental shifts. More >>

5 myths about getting rid of the bomb

It's everyone's nightmare scenario: After a 65-year hiatus, nuclear bombs are again used as weapons. But despite the evident dangers posed by their existence, nine nations cling to nukes, and a  few others, such as Iran, seem to want them. 

The existing nuclear powers resist disarmament because they believe, or claim to believe, in a number of myths about how easy bombs are for rogue regimes to get -- and how useful they are once in hand.


Barry Blechman and Alex Bollfrass are researchers at the Stimson Center and co-authors of "Unblocking the Road to Zero."

Nuclear powers set for Pakistan showdown_ or are they?

A row is looming between Beijing and Washington over China's proposed sale of two nuclear power-generating reactors to Pakistan. 

This would appear to break the guidelines set by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a gathering of countries who export civil nuclear technology.

The NSG's annual meeting is taking place in Christchurch, New Zealand all this week and it provides the first opportunity for other governments to explore what exactly China is proposing.

"During recent weeks Beijing has come under growing pressure," says the veteran nuclear expert Mark Hibbs, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. More >>>
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Climate Change and Energy Security

We are however, in some respects, fighting a losing battle, we have to find a way to give all nations that need civilian nuclear power the ability to do produce it, AND keep the proliferation risks to a minimum. We need the technology that allows energy generation and no proliferation risks.

Climate change demands that we cut carbon output dramatically. Failure to do so may well be a major conflict trigger, caused by a number of things, water security, food security, refugee flows, energy security. 

We have to see the larger picture AND get the balance between energy security and non-proliferation. Editor

Israel vs Iran: The risk of war

Iran is at the centre of a global storm: targeted by new sanctions, suspected by Washington, defended by Brazil and Turkey. But the complex diplomacy around its nuclear programme could be ended by decisions made not in the United States but in Israel.

Iran has returned to the centre of international diplomacy, and with a vengeance. A week after the crisis over Israel’s assault on an aid-flotilla bound for Gaza, the United Nations Security Council on 9 June 2010 adopted a resolution imposing another tranche of sanctions on the Tehran regime over its contested nuclear programme. More >>>

Nuclear factor in international relations and the “Iranian Problem”

The international politics is increasingly revolving around the nuclear theme. 

A meltdown of the regime set by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was absolutely predictable. Due to its discriminatory character, the Treaty could not prevent the “horizontal proliferation”, the process which turned Israel, India, Pakistan, N. Korea, and South Africa into nuclear-armed countries. There can be no universally acceptable explanation why some countries are entitled to possess nuclear weapons while others are not. 

Asserting its global primacy, the US has dealt several severe blows to the non-proliferation regime. More >>>

India Expanding Military Nuclear Site

Google Earth recently posted satellite imagery from GeoEye taken on March 3, 2010 of the Rare Materials Plant (RMP) in India.  


This is the site of India’s military gas centrifuge uranium enrichment program.  In the new imagery, initial excavation and construction of a large building or buildings can be seen.  While the construction is in its early stages in this image, the size of the building or buildings to be constructed indicates that these will be large industrial buildings.  A DigitalGlobe satellite image from 2005 shows the same area as undeveloped with several adjacent pond. More >>>