Rogue Planet

Blood at the Crossroads

Amnesty International released an extensive report this week that provides case studies on the effects of variations and loopholes in current global arms legislation.  The report is structured to rally support for the UN Arms Trade Treaty from the 24 abstaining members and the lone holdout in preparation for October's UN General Assembly discussions on Disarmament and Security.

Blood at the Crossroads: Making the Case for a Global Arms Trade Treaty [.pdf]

Most Governments say they want tough arms control at the UN

The majority of the world’s governments have confirmed they want an Arms Trade Treaty during the UN General Assembly committee sessions on conventional arms which ended today and they have submitted written proposals calling for respect of international human rights and humanitarian law in conventional arms transfers.

Two new analyses released during the UN debate, which examined what States have told the UN Secretary General, found that most governments are urging respect for human rights when decisions are made about arms transfers. There is also strong support by a majority of governments for provisions to respect international humanitarian law such as the Geneva Conventions and Protocols and a ban on arming terrorist groups.

Other criteria cited by many governments for the new treaty include the prevention of arms transfers where there is a clear risk of diversion, such as to violate international arms embargoes, and if there is a danger the arms will be used in serious crime or have a negative impact on sustainable development.

U.S. Small Arms Policy: Having it Both Ways

This relatively quick read provided by the World Policy Institute contrasts the U.S.'s export and arms trade policies with its 'shadow' polices, discussing supply to the Mujahadeen in Pakistan as well as the covert small arms trail (and the subsequent losses) to Iraq. 

In conclusion the author claims, "If the United States is not prepared to amend its own policy, it can hardly claim the high ground over those leaders who clandestinely supply lethal weapons in pursuit of their own ideological or mercantile interests."  But isn't that what the U.S. was founded on?  The idea of saying one thing and doing another?  I'm pretty sure I heard that on South Park, or something.

The full read can be found here.

U.S. lone major holdout on arms trade regulation

By Charles J. Hanley
Associated Press
Published on: 10/01/07

United Nations —- Britain, Japan, Australia and others are pushing for an unprecedented treaty regulating the arms trade worldwide, in a campaign sure to last years and to pit them against a determined American foe, the National Rifle Association.

In what U.N. officials say is an "overwhelming" response, almost 100 governments have submitted ideas for such a treaty, to be reviewed over the next year. Kenya cited an "extremely urgent" need for controls on the international gun trade, echoing the sentiment in much of guns-besieged Africa.

But in the U.S., the NRA says it sees a creeping attempt to limit civilian gun ownership within nations —- even though the focus now is on setting standards for arms exports and imports.

The international issues "necessarily will come to involve at some point domestic laws and policies regarding firearms," said former Georgia congressman Bob Barr, a leading NRA voice on the subject.

But "that's not what we're looking at here," countered Greg Puley, of the Control Arms coalition of pro-treaty advocacy groups. "The point is to control trade in weapons that contribute to conflict and atrocities."

The NRA and other U.S. gun lobbyists helped blunt earlier efforts at the United Nations to rein in the weapons trade. Last December, the U.S. delegation cast the lone negative vote when 153 nations approved a General Assembly resolution initiating this new treaty process.

Arms Trade Dips But Still Brisk in 2006

Despite reporting to the United Nations a collective decline in their global arms transfers in 2006, arms suppliers posted the third-highest tally for major conventional weapons exports in 15 years. Arms buyers and sellers also volunteered more information than in past years on their small arms and light weapons trade.

Seeking to shed greater light on worldwide weapons transactions with the goal of curbing dangerous arms acquisitions and buildups, governments in 1991 approved creation of a voluntary UN Register of Conventional Arms. The measure calls on countries to account annually by May 31 for their previous year’s exports and imports of battle tanks, armored combat vehicles (ACVs), large-caliber artillery, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, and missiles and missile systems. Governments may also detail their complete holdings and domestic procurement of those weapons.

The annual reports tend to trickle in, and by mid-August, 93 countries had filed submissions on their 2006 arms trade. Typically, about 120 countries will report each year. A significant portion of these states do not actually export or import listed arms but instead file “nil” reports indicating no transactions. Fifty-two governments have made such reports covering last year.

Most major arms exporters regularly participate in the register, providing a general accounting of the global arms market, and this year is no different. Thirty countries have reported exports totaling almost 10,500 weapons. This sum is shy of the 2005 mark of nearly 12,000 exports but exceeds all other previous years’ totals except for that of 1992.

Bringing Back the Cold War: More Commentary

The new arms race is deadly because Russia is so fragile
Fraser Nelson

A little over a week ago, Vladimir Putin tested a weapon deadlier than anything developed by the Soviet Union. A missile launched from a submarine in the White Sea entered the stratosphere and returned precisely on target 3,800 miles away in the Russian Far East — the other side of the world. Such tests are meant to send messages. The target could just have easily been Tehran, Los Angeles or London. It signalled that Russia means business. After a hiatus of two decades, the arms race is back.

While Britain has been fixated with the Middle East and Iraq, it has paid insufficient attention to the increasingly aggressive noises emanating from the Kremlin. Mr Putin was never very enthusiastic about Russia becoming a part of the West — but now, flush with gas and oil revenues, he has left its orbit altogether. The Russian military is once again treating Nato as the glavny protivnik, the primary enemy, and drawing up plans for a nuclear war. And Putin’s explicit aim is to challenge, and then counter, America’s world dominance.

Bringing Back the Cold War

Russia Suspends Arms Agreement Over U.S. Shield

MOSCOW, July 14 — President Vladimir V. Putin, angered by American plans to deploy a missile shield in Eastern Europe, formally notified NATO governments on Saturday that Russia will suspend its obligations under the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, a key cold war-era arms limitation agreement.

The decision ratcheted up tensions over the missile shield plan, but also reflected a trend of rising anti-Americanism and deep suspicion toward the West here as Russia’s March presidential elections approach.

Russia’s suspension will take effect in 150 days, according to a copy of the president’s decree posted on a Kremlin Web site. That delay leaves open the possibility of further negotiation on the 1990 treaty, which resulted in a huge wave of disarmament along the former East-West divide in Europe.

Despite a Foreign Ministry statement that Russia would reject any limitations on redeploying heavy weaponry on its Western border, the Kremlin’s move is not expected to radically transform the security situation.

But the decision is a strong indicator that the smiles and warm embraces between Presidents Bush and Putin just a few weekends ago at the so-called lobster summit in Maine did little to soften the Kremlin’s pique over proposals to build two American missile defense bases in former Soviet satellite states, Poland and the Czech Republic.

So on Saturday, Mr. Putin reached for a powerful diplomatic tool to fend off what he has described as American bullying and NATO and European encirclement, both economic and military, that the Kremlin believes encroaches into a Russian sphere of influence. White House officials expressed immediate disappointment after the announcement from Moscow, but pledged to continue to meet with their Russian counterparts to resolve the dispute.

Russia's 'Semi-Transparent' Exports

Look for the UN to be using this as an example to support the Arms Trade Treaty's measures which require mandatory reporting of exports (Principle 5).

SEMI-TRANSPARENT EXPORTS
Alexei Nikolsky

HIGHLIGHT: Russia reports on arms sales in 2006; Figures for Russian
arms exports in 2006, as reported voluntarily to the United Nations
by Russia, have been released to the public. The previously-unknown
arms shipments on the list include a large quantity of aviation
rockets for China.

Figures for Russian arms exports in 2006, as reported voluntarily to
the United Nations by Russia, have been released to the public. The
previously-unknown arms shipments on the list include a large
quantity of aviation rockets for China.

Mikhail Barabanov, science editor at Eksport Vooruzhenii (Arms
Exports) magazine, says that UN member states are not obliged to
submit information to the UN Registry for Conventional Arms
Deliveries, and if they volunteer to do so, the information doesn't
have to be complete. Nevertheless, this source can sometimes
highlight some interesting details about the global arms trade - for
example, the accelerated rearmament of Georgia by NATO's East
European members and Ukraine.

Russia's information for 2006, as posted on the UN website last week,
shows that it supplied 30 T-90 tanks (models not specified) and ten
fighter jects (four MiG-29 and six Su-24) to Algeria; four Su-30 jets
to Venezuela; 60 BTR-80 armored venhicles to Bangladesh; two vessels
(destroyer and submarine) to China; 14 Mi-35 and Mi-17 helicopters to
Venezuela; and four helicopters to Sudan. These deliveries had been
reported earlier, although not in detail.

But some shipments had not been reported earlier: 100 heavy weapons
to Myanmar, and 944 rockets to China. A source close to the Defense
Ministry said that Myanmar received obsolete D-30 howitzers from
Russian army storehouses. A source from an aviation enterprise told
us that China received Moskit and Club anti-ship rockets, as well as
X-31, X-59, RVV-AE and R-73 aviation rockets, worth almost $1 billion.

Barabanov says that Russia has disclosed about $2.5 billion worth of
its total arms sales for 2006 ($6.46 billion). The Registry
information does not include air defense weaponry for China and Iran,
or deliveries to the Middle East. Konstantin Makiyenko from the
Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies says that the
secrecy is due to client requirements and the highly sensitive nature
of military technology cooperation with Middle East countries, which
might draw the West's displeasure. In Makiyenko's view, this is an
acceptable level of transparency, relative to other major arms
exporters. Russia is less transparent than the USA, where all major
arms deals must be reported to Congress, but more transparent than
China, which hasn't submitted any information to the Registry since 1995.

Source: Vedomosti, No. 199, July 2007, p. A2

EU Supports UN Arms Trade Treaty

More info on the ATT can be found here.

EU favours international arms trade treaty

By IANS
Monday June 18, 08:02 PM

Brussels, June 18 (Xinhua) European Union (EU) foreign ministers
Monday expressed support for a binding international arms trade
treaty to curb proliferation of conventional arms.

'It (the council of ministers) expresses its firm belief that a
comprehensive, binding agreement would be a major contribution to
tackling the undesirable and irresponsible proliferation of
conventional arms which undermines peace, security, sustainable
development and full respect for human rights,' said the ministers in
a statement.

They also underlined the importance of cooperation with other states
and regional organizations in the process of elaborating such a
treaty, and welcomed the start of practical work toward this goal.

'The European Union experience with its own export control system
demonstrates the feasibility of an agreement without depriving states
of their national prerogative to license or deny individual exports,
and confirms the effectiveness and efficiency of a multilateral
export control mechanism,' said the statement.