Project ‘Transparent Earth’ and the Autoscopy of Aerial Targeting

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 270-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Bishop
Keyword(s):  
Gulf War ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Us Military ◽  
Military Research ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
Military Planning ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Subject ◽  
And Control

The import of underground facilities in military strategy in the US grew exponentially after the Gulf War. The success of precision-guided conventional missiles meant that any above-ground building or complex could be accurately targeted and destroyed, thus driving states with less sophisticated weapons to go underground to secure space for covert weapons development and the protection of command and control centres for military and governmental functions. Underground facilities have thus become the main challenge to objects of detection and targeting practices for US military research and development. This article provides a meditation on the underground in relation to military planning and technology, the limits of aerial visual control of terrain, the plans by the US military to counter underground defensive moves, the efficacy of tele-technologies to detect and destroy such installations at a distance, and an oblique genealogy of aerial and subterrestrial strategies in relation to technologies to overcome the limitations of each. In so doing, the article argues a deeply connected relationship between the imaginary and the material in attempts to realize a mastery of space and populations essential to military operations, thus posing questions about sensory perception, the status of the subject with regard to agency and control, and the prosthetic outfitting of the subject that both supports and blunts agency and control.

Protocol to the Convention on the Prohibition of Bacteriological (Biological) Weapons – History, Main Provisions, Significance and Reasons for Not Signing

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-21
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
The United States ◽  
Biological Weapons ◽  
Pharmaceutical Companies ◽  
Special Role ◽  
International Agreement ◽  
Us Military ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Weapons Control

Received 30 January 2021. Accepted for publication 20 March 2021 The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (BTWC) does not have a legally binding verification regime. An attempt by the Ad Hoc Group of Experts, created by the UN Committee on Disarmament, to strengthen the BTWC by developing a legally binding document – the Protocol, was blocked by the United States in July 2001. The purpose of this work is to study the history, main provisions, significance and reasons for not signing the Protocol to the BTWC. The attention is paid to the events in biological weapons control, which have led a number of countries to the understanding of the necessity to develop the Protocol. The background of the US actions to block this document is the subject of special consideration. During the Second Review Conference on the Implementation of the Convention (8–25 September 1986, Geneva) the USSR, the German Democratic Republic and the Hungarian People's Republic proposed to develop and adopt the Protocol as an addition to the BTWC. This document was supposed to establish general provisions, definitions of terms, lists of agents and toxins, lists of equipment that was present or used at production facilities, threshold quantities of biological agents designed to assess means and methods of protection. The proposed verification mechanism was based on three «pillars»: initial declarations with the basic information about the capabilities of each State Party; inspections to assess the reliability of the declarations; investigations to verify and confirm or not confirm the alleged non-compliance with the Convention. The verification regime was to be under the control of an international organization – the Organization for the Prohibition of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons. However, the US military and pharmaceutical companies opposed the idea of international inspections. The then US Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, John Robert Bolton II, played a special role in blocking the Protocol. During the Fifth Review Conference in December 2001, he demanded the termination of the Ad Hoc Group of Experts mandate for negotiations under the pretext that any international agreement would constrain US actions. The current situation with biological weapons control should not be left to chance. Measures to strengthen the BTWC should be developed, taking into account the new fundamental changes in dual-use biotechnology. It should be borne in mind, that the Protocol, developed in the 1990s, is outdated nowadays.

Selected legal aspects of sexual abuse prevention

2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-233
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Badźmirowska-Masłowska ◽  
Jacek Rosa
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Abuse Prevention ◽  
Sexual Abuse Prevention ◽  
Sexual Offences ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Legal Perspective ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Subject ◽  
And Control

The article on selected aspects of sexual abuse prevention presents the subject matter from the legal perspective and discusses the issues concerning prevention and control of sexual offences in Poland. The article refers to the status of the child in criminal law and applicable provisions under the Directive 2011/92/EU and the Lanzarote Convention concerning prevention, assistance and support for juveniles. In this context, presented have been the obligations of the state (public authorities), including the police, to prevent this type of crime as well as the diffi culties associated with the implementation of relevant tasks. The conclusions indicate the problems that require practical solutions.

‘The Lawyers’ War’

2020 ◽  
pp. 117-156
Author(s):  
Craig Jones
Keyword(s):  
Planning Process ◽  
Gulf War ◽  
Laws Of War ◽  
Dual Use ◽  
Civilian Life ◽  
Collateral Consequences ◽  
Us Military ◽  
The Us ◽  
Slow Violence

This chapter analyses the involvement of military lawyers in the planning and conduct of the US-led First Gulf War in 1990–1991. Contrary to representations of the First Gulf War as one of the cleanest, most precise, and limited wars the US military has ever fought, this chapter outlines the planning process and rationale behind the US military’s destruction of Iraq’s key infrastructure. The laws of war and military lawyers played no small part in the patterning of violence as key legal interpretations turned ‘dual use’ infrastructures into legitimate military targets—with cascading collateral consequences for civilian life in Iraq. The chapter considers how calculations of proportionality failed to properly consider the ‘slow violence’ of targeting, which enabled and legitimized forms of infrastructural violence and military destruction that might otherwise be considered impermissible.

scholarly journals US Foundations in Brazil and the Funding of the Human Rights Field – Data and Trends from 2003 to 2012

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-393
Author(s):  
Fernando do Amaral Nogueira ◽  
Mario Aquino Alves ◽  
Patricia Maria Emerenciano de Mendonça
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Global Fund ◽  
Ford Foundation ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Income Generation ◽  
International Funding ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Using Data

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to describe and analyze the presence of US philanthropy in Brazil with regards to the field of human rights from 2003 to 2012, using data from the Foundation Center on 1896 grants totaling $336M. Human rights NGOs are especially important in Brazil. Despite recent growth and development, it is a country that still faces many social, political and human rights challenges. But the local field is still largely dependent on international funding, and US foundations play a traditional and vital role in this scenario, thus it is important to understand recent changes on American foundations priorities. The numbers indicate that the US investment in Brazil is concentrated in few areas (environment and human rights account for 50% of the amount invested), and these priorities are clearly different from those in the Brazilian philanthropic agenda (more focused on education, income generation, youth and community development). When we focus on human rights, we must underline that the investment in human rights by American foundations is quite notable. Not only is Brazil the country in which there were more investments in this topic in the last 10 years, but human rights is also the second field of priority in the country, right after Environment. When examining the collected data, there are four large patterns emerging: dependence on big donors, relevance of the strategy of “many small grants”, incipient grants in advocacy and possible existence of thematic niches. Of all these issues, the main challenge is that the field is very dependent on a few very large donors: Ford Foundation, Kellogg Foundation and the Global Fund for Women account for over 65% of the grants and 89% of the amount in US dollars. The Kellogg Foundation has already left Brazil to concentrate on other geographic priorities; should the Ford Foundation take a similar decision, the field of human rights in Brazil might even collapse, since Brazilian donors do not yet demonstrate enthusiasm for the subject.

scholarly journals Problems of the Use of Private Military and Security Companies in the US military operations

2010 ◽  
pp. 89-96
Author(s):  
D. O. Novikova
Keyword(s):  
Military Operations ◽  
Us Military ◽  
The Us ◽  
Security Companies

В статье анализируются основные проблемы, связанные с использованием Соединенными Штатами частных военных и охранных компаний1 в военных операциях, прежде всего в Ираке и Афганистане, по материалам соответствующих аналитических докладов американских экспертов.

Part I General Framework, 3 Multinational Military Operations

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fleck Dieter ◽  
Newton Michael A ◽  
Grenfell Katarina
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
The North ◽  
The Us ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
And Control ◽  
Military Units

This chapter discusses the use of multinational military units. Some European States, such as Germany, have incorporated large, if not most, parts of their national military forces in permanent multinational units. Many other States including the US are forming ad hoc military units for specific operations. The UN, NATO, and other international organizations are pursuing standby arrangements and high readiness commitments to allow for rapid response. In all these situations command and control issues are to be considered. While there are many different forms of multinational military cooperation, and Sending States will avoid regulating these matters in status-of-forces agreements (SOFAs) with the Receiving State, they are nevertheless relevant for the law and practice of Visiting Forces. This chapter draws some conclusions on the concept of multinational military operations for the North Atlantic Alliance, the European Union, and beyond.

scholarly journals Resurgents Create a Moral Landscape: Indigenous Resurgence and Everyday Practices of Farming in Okinawa

Humanities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 135
Author(s):  
Megumi Chibana
Keyword(s):  
Local Economy ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Military Installations ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
Us Military ◽  
Moral Landscape ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
And Control ◽  
Indigenous Land

Located at the territorial border of powerful states in the world, Okinawa has been a politically contested place because of the long and disproportionate hosting of the US military installations in Japan. Historically, the effects of military occupation and control of land appeared in the dispossession of Indigenous land, a transition of the local economy, and furthermore, environmental destruction of agrarian space. This essay examines everyday acts of Okinawans making Indigenous space and making the land a more livable place, despite having long been dominated and militarily occupied. More specifically, this essay explores the correlation between land-based practices of farming and (a)political activism in the community. Drawing upon ethnographic research in Okinawa, I share various stories of people engaged in active Indigenous resurgence, whom I have termed “resurgents.” Stories of these resurgents show their commitment to the land-based farming and community-based activism of restoring the Indigenous landscape and foodways. I argue that the everyday act of farming, while perhaps seemingly apolitical and personal, has been and becomes a form of sociopolitical action that not only acts to resist settler-military space but also to sustain firmly and to call forth resurgent Okinawan Indigeneity from the ground.

Retirement Day

2019 ◽  
pp. 291-303
Author(s):  
Andrew Marble
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Partnership For Peace ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Us Military ◽  
The Us ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
Operations Other Than War ◽  
Historic Change ◽  
The Military

The chapter is set at Fort Myer, Virginia, on September 30, 1997, the day General John Shalikashvili retired from the US military. The chapter overviews the retirement ceremony from Shalikashvili’s perspective as he reviews the honor guard with President William J. Clinton and Secretary of Defense William Cohen and thinks back to that night when he first laid eyes on US soldiers in Pappenheim and the role that luck has played in his attaining the American dream. The chapter also thumbnails his accomplishments as chairman: (1) confronting historic change, especially by realizing Partnership for Peace and NATO expansion, (2) was more supportive of non-traditional military missions (military operations other than war, MOOTW), (3) prepared the US military for the challenges of the twenty-first century, particularly by downsizing the military yet upgrading their capability and readiness, including by emphasizing joint education, joint planning, and joint training, and (4) rebalanced civil-military relations. The chapter ends with Shalikashvili’s closing remarks, emphasizing his love for soldiers and their families.

Military and political aspects of the foreign policy Of the D. Trump administration

2020 ◽  
pp. 69-78
Author(s):  
N. E. Rybachuk
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Us Military ◽  
Military Planning ◽  
The Us ◽  
Trump Administration

The article analyzes changes in the US military and political course after the election of D. Trump, including doctrine, military planning and diplomacy.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document