Chp. 34.4 Security in a Dangerous World
By: Joel VanAllen & Connor Smith
9/11/01
2014
The Power of Modern Weapons
- The Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty
-1986, Russia, the U.S., and 60 other countries sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty
- Treaty did not proliferate, or rapidly spread, to nations that had no nuclear weapons
- 187 nations sign the treaty by 2000
- Nations that signed the treaty work around it by selling or buying nuclear materials instead of weapons
The Problem with Russia
- Soviet Union collapsed, stockpiles of nuclear weapons remain throughout its former territory
- The Russian Government was unstable, and had no control over the materials
- Fear of smuggling nuclear materials grew high
- Europe and the U.S. increased fundings to help Russia secure its nuclear weapons
Weapons of Mass Destruction
- Asia, Europe, and North America begin to produce these weapons abundantly
- Biological weapons refers to organisms carrying diseases
- Chemical weapons include toxins, such as nerve gas or mustard gas
- Nuclear weapons include atoms bombs and hydrogen bombs
- Rogue states- nations that ignore international laws limiting WMD's
Terrorism threatens Global Security
- Terrorism- the use of violence by groups of extremists to achieve political goals
- IRA (Irish Republican Army), forced Britain to give up Northern Ireland
- ETA (Basque terrorist group), seeks to compel the Spanish government to allow their region of the Pyrenees to secede
- The Tamil Tigers, in Sri Lanka, combine guerilla warfare and terrorist bondings to achieve their goal of founding a sepearte state
- The Shining Path, in Peru, use violence and murder to overthrow the government and set up their own regimes
The Rise of al Qaeda
- al Qaeda- " the base" in Arabic
- Leader of the al Qaeda was Osama bin Laden
- Helped warlords in Afghanistan drive Soviets out of the country during the 1980s.
- Denounced American business interests, political influence, and military power from Saudi Arabia
The War on Terrorism
- 9/11 forced nations around the world to re-evaluate their enemies, allies, and their own security
- 2003- President George W. Bush declared war on terrorism as a whole and on al Qaeda in particular
Wars in Afghanistan & Iraq
- Afghanistan- Islamic nation roughly 1,000 miles east of Iraq, where many al Qaeda leaders hid from authorities
- Taliban- Islamic fundamentalist group acting as government of Afghanistan
- Two years after the war in Afghanistan, President Bush urged Congress to declare war on Iraq in fear that Saddam was developing WMD's