APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, May 26, 2008

Recommended Citation

"APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, May 26, 2008", APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, May 26, 2008, https://nautilus.org/apsnet/apsnet-26-may-2008/

APSNet 26 May 2008

  1. Australia Baulks at Cluster Bomb Ban
  2. Why the Gulf Matters: Crafting an Australian Security Policy for the Gulf
  3. UAV Tested For Patrols over Northern Waters
  4. Human Security Brief 2007
  5. LAPAN Successfully Launches Experimental Rocket
  6. NATO Cautions on Pakistan Militant Peace Deals
  7. Politics and State Building in Solomon Islands

1. Australia Baulks at Cluster Bomb Ban, Louise Hall and AFP, SMH, 2008-05-25

France and Britain have announced their intention to ban weapons that cause “unacceptable harm” but a group of countries including Australia, are pushing for an exemption clause on joint operations with states outside the treaty that may use cluster bombs. Australia also claims the SMArt 155 bombs purchased by the Howard Government for $14 million last year are not technically cluster bombs and should be exempt.

2. Why the Gulf Matters: Crafting an Australian Security Policy for the Gulf, Rodger Shanahan, Lowy, May 2008 [511 KB, PDF]

Australia’s withdrawal of combat forces from Iraq should not signal a withdrawal of Australian security engagement in the Gulf region. Australia’s ongoing economic, political and security interests in the region require a coherent approach rather than one of benign neglect interspersed with occasional bursts of self-interested attention.

3. UAV Tested For Patrols over Northern Waters, AAP, Australian, 2008-05-23

Border protection authorities have been trialling an unmanned aerial vehicle over Australia’s northern waters. Customs and Border Protection Command will use a six-week trial of the Israeli-made aircraft to assess its technology for use in helping combat quarantine and border threats, illegal foreign fishing and prohibited activities around marine sites.

4. Human Security Brief 2007, Human Security Report Project, 2008-05-21

The Human Security Brief 2007 reveals a sharp net decline in the incidence of terrorist violence around the world. The Brief demonstrates that the decline in the total number of armed conflicts and combat deaths around the world has continued. The number of military coups has also continued to decline, as have the number of campaigns of deadly violence waged against civilians.

5. LAPAN Successfully Launches Experimental Rocket, Antara, 2008-05-22

The National Aeronautics and Outer Space Institute (LAPAN) successfully launched a rocket embodying the last phase of a process to develop a rocket to put a satellite in orbit from Pameungpeuk, West Java, last Monday. Dubbed RX-320 , the 0.5-ton rocket had a spin stabilization of 2 rps and carried devices for engineered tests to diagnose aerodynamic behavior, trajectory, environmental conditions and other factors.

6. NATO Cautions on Pakistan Militant Peace Deals, Reuters, 2008-05-26

NATO in Afghanistan spoke out against Pakistan’s moves to reach peace deals with Taliban militants on its side of the border as new violence left 16 people dead, including a US-led soldier. Visiting US congressman also said they were concerned that Islamabad’s peace talks with militants could preclude a rise in attacks in Afghanistan, where 70,000 foreign soldiers are helping to fight a Taliban-led insurgency.

7. Politics and State Building in Solomon Islands, Sinclair Dinnen and Stewart Firth (eds), ANU E Press, Asia Pacific Press, 2008 [3.1MB, PDF]

Using the case of Solomon Islands, this book raises fundamental questions about the nature of ‘cooperative intervention’ as a vehicle for state building, asking whether it should be construed as a mainly technical endeavour or whether it is unavoidably a political undertaking with political consequences. This book has important implications for the wider debate about international state-building interventions in‘failed’ and ‘failing’ states.

8. Updated information from Nautilus Institute

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Richard Tanter,
Project Co-ordinator