Disarmament

Historically, chemical warfare has sometimes been viewed at the very least with suspicion, and more often with a combination of terror and abhorrence. Chemical weapons were considered, and remain in the minds of most of us, uncivilized if not barbaric tools of war. As early as 1675, France and Germany both condemned the use of poisoned bullets in combat, and over the years, dozens of international treaties and declarations have been drafted to ban or limit their use. In this chapter we take a look at some of these attempts at disarmament and control, and speculate on not just the chances but even the desirability of treaties. 

As Austria grew in military might at the end of the nineteenth century, Russia, then in the midst of building a far-reaching railroad network, was unable to keep up with its own defense spending. In 1898, Tsar Nicholas—motivated as much by realpolitik as by an authentic desire for peace— proposed a convention at which participant nations would agree to limit armament growth. 

The German government and public, during and after World War I, did not shy away from making the argument that chemical weaponry was actually a humane form of combat. In June 1915, the editors of a Cologne, Germany, newspaper opined that 

From this standpoint the letting loose of smoke clouds, which, in a gentle wind, move quite slowly towards the enemy, is not only permissible by international law, but is an extraordinarily mild method of war.. . .  

The American delegation did, however, note the need for further discussion concerning the beneficial aspects of gas warfare, finding as follows  

---

Now that much of the world has agreed to nuclear disarmament, scientists and world leaders are searching for uses for the surplus weapons-grade plutonium. Instead of pursuing disposal options, one option is the use of mixed-oxide (MOX) nuclear fuel. 

Indeed, when new countries like the U K. France or China became nuclear powers, countries which were already members of the club were strongly opposed, but now it is quite well accepted that possession of nuclear weapons by those countries did not provoke a catastrophe. Some even consider that the existence of nuclear weapons in different camps was a stabilizing factor during the Cold War and prevented a major conflict during the past half-century. Why, then, the possession by India should not stabilize the relation between India and China, and by Pakistan the relation between Pakistan and India, preventing major conflicts in these zones At least the question may be asked. In the same way, the possession by Israel of nuclear weapons, in the opinion of some, has stabilized the situation in the Middle East. In any case, when a country has decided that it is worth while to make the effort and take the risks of developing nuclear weapons, it seems that after some initial outcry, the world accepts it without major retaliation That shows some kind of hypocrisy in the initial claim of a fundamental evil connected with the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The real issue is probably to avoid the acquisition of nuclear weapons by unstable, not very democratic countries. May be Pakistan is in that category clearly the West would not like Libya or Iran and Iraq to possess such weapons. A real, major issue is full nuclear disarmament, but this is another story. 

Robinson, Julian Perry. The Rise of CB Weapons. The Problem of Chemical and Biological Warfare A Study of The Historical, Technical, Military, Legal and Political Aspects of CBW, and Possible Disarmament Measures. Vol. 1. Stockholm Almqvist Wiksell, 1971. 

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, shortly described as Convention on general and comprehensive prohibition of chemical weapons, or Chemical Weapons Convention, abbreviated as CWC, was adopted in 1992 after complex negotiations on the basis of The Conference on Disarmament (and previous multilateral negotiating fora in Geneva), lasting nearly a quarter of a century mainly due to the worldwide spread of chemical industry and relatively easy... 

Verified destruction of chemical weapons (CW) and CW production facilities (CWPF), i.e. disarmament,... 

Assessing die universality of the CWC (by the way one of the requirement of the First Review Conference), one can come to interesting results comparing this requirement with the status of other principal agreements on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) as can be demonstrated by table 1. It seems that one could be satisfied with relatively high number of SPs, seven years after EIF in comparison with other presented arms-control / disarmament agreements. Nevertheless, for the prevention of any use of CW, it is necessary to reach higher number of SPs mainly because most of the above mentioned important non-SPs concentrated in Near and Middle East and on Korean peninsula are supposed nearly certainly to be possessors of CW (not to speak on possession of other kinds of WMD like in the case of Israel). 

The author, Professor Jiri Matousek, PhD, DSc., Dipl. Eng., was working nearly 40 years in R D for Chemical Corps, Medical Services and Civil Protection, inter alia as Head of the Czechoslovak NBC Defence R D Establishment (now Military Technical Institute of Protection, Bmo) and a member of the Czechoslovak Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. He is currently chairman of the OPCW Scientific Advisory Board. 

The Chemical Weapons Convention of the 13.01.1993 is disarmament and arms control treaty whose aims are the prohibition of... 

SIPRI Yearbook 1997 - Armaments, Disarmament and International Security, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, 1997... 

BWC—Officially known as the Convention on the Prohibition of Development, Production, and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction. The BWC works toward general and complete disarmament, including the prohibition and elimination of all types of weapons of mass destruction. 

Before considering international disarmament, we must not overiook the great potential of CBR and the ease of evading detection of CBR activities. 

In any consideration of international disarmament, a special effort must be made not to... 

Hewitt, Bill. A Separate Peace Dismayed by Violence on the Streets, a New York Businessman Offers to Swap Ttys for Guns and Starts a Disarmament Crusade Across the Country. People Weekly, vol. 41, January 17, 1994, pp. 84ff. Tells the story of carpet store owner Fernando Mateo, Sr. Dismayed by media reports of violent deaths just before Christmas in 1993, Mateo hit upon the idea of organizing a program to swap toys for... 

See Dick Richardson and Carolyn Kitching, Britain and the World Disarmament Conference , in Peter Catterall and C. J. Morris (eds.), Britain and the Threat to Stability in Europe, 1918-45 (Leicester University Press, 1993), pp. 35-56. 

CP 152 (32). For delays to new heavy bombers, see remarks by the CAS, Sir Edward Ellington, as recorded in minutes of Ministerial Committee on Defence Requirements, 10 May 1935, CAB 27/508, TNA. For Britain s successful defence of the bomber at Geneva, see Phillip Meilinger, Clipping the bomber s wings the Geneva disarmament... 

Senate Committee on Foreign Relations , Chemical-Biological-Radiological Warfare and Its Disarmament Aspects , US GovtPrtg-... 

It was natural that the war should be followed by a wave of anti-war feeling. The war had done what the writing of the economists had failed to do it had demonstrated that modern warfare brought loss on a colossal scale to the victors as well as the vanquished. The establishment of the League of Nations, and its early activities, showed a general determination to find an alternative to war for the settlement of international disputes. Nevertheless, the calls for worldwide disarmament continued and eventually legislation was passed in an effort to limit chemical weapons. 

---