December 3 webinar hosted together with the Asia-Europe People's Forum a webinar on Military Spending & Global
(In)Security to discuss how current levels of military spending condition
our global emergencies. Speakers include: Michael T. Klare, Binalakshmi
Nepram, Tarja Cronberg and Walden Bello, and moderators will be Jordi Calvo
and Corazon Valdez Fabros.
The webinar coincides with the presentation of the book edited by GCOMS
coordinator Jordi Calvo "Military Spending and Global Security.
Humanitarian and Environmental Perspectives", published on
November 26 by Routledge. The book gives context to the discussion at
hand, reflecting on why people are not well served by nation-states when
they continuously seek to out-compete one another in the size and
destructive powers of their militaries. The webinar deals with the
scope of military spending around the world, while explaining how militarism
is linked with conflict and security threats, and how military spending
further prevent us from adequately dealing with global problems such as
climate change or the covid-19 pandemic.
This report focuses specifically on the military-oil industry relationship to reveal its role in climate breakdown. It argues that we must start to quantify, expose and act upon the climate burden put upon people and planet by the world’s big military spenders.
With the help of governments and their intelligence agencies, the global arms trade continues to be a controlling and corrupting force throughout the world.
By Karl Grossman, prof of journalism, Columbia Uni 28 April 2021
The U.S., the United Kingdom and the then Soviet Union joined decades ago in drafting the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 that designated space as a “global commons” for peaceful purposes. The treaty bans the deployment of weapons of mass destruction in space. It’s been signed by most nations on Earth.
Russia and China—along with U.S. neighbor Canada—have led in a move to expand the Outer Space Treaty by outlawing the deployment of any weapons in space.
PAROS has wide world support. But through a succession of U.S. administrations—Republican and Democrat—the U.S. government has voted against the PAROS treaty at the Conference on Disarmament of the United Nations. Because conference decisions must be supported by consensus, the U.S. has effectively vetoed enactment of the PAROS treaty.
Collectively, the world’s estimated 12,512 nuclear warheads belong to just nine countries. However, there are more than two dozen additional countries that participate in nuclear mission-related arrangements. While these countries do not have direct launch authority over any nuclear warheads, they play an important role in their storage, planning, delivery, and safety and use-control, and therefore merit a degree of scrutiny alongside their nuclear-armed peers.
Pentagon’s Own Map of U.S. Bases in Africa Contradicts Its Claim of “Light” Footprint
A formerly secret map from AFRICOM shows a network of 29 U.S. military bases that stretch from one side of Africa to another.
Nick Turse
The Intercept February 27 2020
There is no reasonable basis for this gaping loophole. War and war preparations are major greenhouse gas emitters. All greenhouse gas emissions need to be included in mandatory greenhouse gas emiss...
How did the U.S. Air Force respond on 9/11? Could it have shot down United 93, as conspiracy theorists claim? Obtaining 30 hours of never-before-released tapes from the control room of NORAD's Northeast head-quarters, the author reconstructs the chaotic military history of that day—and the Pentagon's apparent attempt to cover it up.
It is the fog and friction of war live—the authentic military history of 9/11.
Genom att luta sig mot kravet på saklighet och opartiskhet kan biblioteken vara en del av totalförsvaret utan att det krockar med demokratiuppdraget. Det säger Erik Fichtelius som står bakom förslaget till nationell biblioteksstrategi.
Germany’s top newspaper Der Spiegel obtained a leaked confidential strategy paper that reveals the country’s military is preparing for a potential war with Russia.
The German military, the Bundeswehr, released the secret 68-page document internally in September.
Puolustusvoimien komentaja, kenraali Timo Kivinen: ”Sotilaallisesti on vaarallista tässä tilanteessa lähteä aliarvioimaan, mikä on Venäjän kyvykkyys tästä eteenpäin”.
Puolustusvoimien komentaja, kenraali Timo Kivinen sanoo, että Suomi on tukenut Ukrainan sotaponnistuksia paljon enemmän kuin ehkä yleisesti luullaan.
– Me olemme tehneet oman osuutemme (Ukrainan) tukemisessa, Kivinen sanoi Maanpuolustuskurssiyhdistyksen turvallisuuspolitiikan illassa Helsingin yliopiston juhlasalissa keskiviikkoiltana.
Ukrainan tukikokouksesta Brysselistä juuri palannut Kivinen heijasti salin täyteisen yleisön silmille kalvon, jossa hän esitteli kylmää matematiikkaa. Sen mukaan Suomi on tukenut Ukrainaa enemmän kuin esimerkiksi Yhdysvallat tai Iso-Britannia niin väkilukuun kuin bruttokansantuotteeseenkin suhteutettuna.
Kivisen mukaan Suomen tuki Ukrainalle on tähän mennessä ollut 107 euroa per kansalainen, kun Yhdysvaltain vastaa luku on 81 euroa ja Ison-Britannian 39 euroa.
– Mielelläni en näytä tätä kuvaa näytä kovinkaan usein, Kivinen sanoi.
Aseistakieltäytyjäliitto julkaisee venäläisen aseistakieltäytyjäaktivistin kirjoituksen, jossa kerrotaan asevelvollisten käyttämisestä maan sotatoimissa Ukrainassa. Kirjoittaja esiintyy nimettömänä, sillä Venäjän käymän hyökkäyssodan vastustamisesta tai siitä objektiivisesti kertomisesta voi saada useiden vuosien mittaisen vankeusrangaistuksen.
Vad händer med bibliotekens uppdrag när samhället står inför kriser? Emma Karlsson granskar argumenten om biblioteken i totalförsvaret men hamnar i större frågor om vilket typ av samhälle vi vill bygga.
A Four Corners investigation can reveal the US Air Force is planning to deploy up to six nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to Tindal air base near Darwin, as fears grow that China is preparing for an assault on Taiwan.