SECURITY IN A DANGEROUS WORLD
The end of the Cold War had promised
an end to global conflict and threat of nuclear
war decade later people are once again worried about attacks.
In the later half of the twentieth century Russia and the united states built up arsenals of nuclear weapons.
The purpose of the treaty was to make sure weapons did not Proliferate
Today the NPT is the most globally accepted arms control agreement
some nations have not signed the treaty India,Pakistan, Israel, Cuba
When the Soviet Union collapsed stockpiles of nuclear weapons and material remained throughout its former territory
WMDs include nuclear biological and chemical weapons
Terrorism threatens global security
Terrorism - the use of violence, especially against civilians by groups of extremists sometimes sponsored by governments that protect and fund them to achieve political goals
terrorist goals range from releasing political prisoners to gaining territory in last two centuries terrorists launched repeated assaults on society
Islamic fundamentalism refers to the religious belief that society should be governed by islamic law
THE RISE OF AL QAEDA
One powerful Islamic fundamentalist group is called al Qaeda which means "the Base" in arabic
The leader of al Qaeda Was Osama bin Laden
Osama had helped the war lords of afghanistan drive the soviets out of their country in th 1980's
Early al Qaeda attacks on american intrests occured in Asia and Africa
but the major blow is when al Qaeda stuck in the united states itself
On the morning of September 11,2001 4 planes were hijacked one crashed in a field another one in the pentagon and then two of them hit the world trade center in New York 2,752 deaths
On Spetember 20,2001 President Bush declared war on terrorism and al Qaeda in particullar
- Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders were living in Afghanistan in 2001
- the government of that country, an islamic fundamentalist group called the Taliban refused to surrender to the terrorists.
- the United States responded by attacking afghanistan
- doing this caused al Qaeda forces to go into hiding but bin Laden remained at large
- two years later Bush asked congress to declare war on Iraq arguing that saddam was secretly producing WMD'S,
- since no WMD'S were found this war raised alot of conflict among americans and people around the world
Over the years after September 11, the government created a new department of Homeland Security and instituted more rigorous security measures at airports and public buildings
I did'nt forget, did you
The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty
In 1968 the NPT was signed by russia, the united states and 60 other countries