Australia's Nuclear Horizon: Moving Beyond the Drumbeat of Risk Inflation
The 2006 Switkowski review report commissioned by the Howard government highlighted some of the economic and foreign policy benefits that could flow from a major expansion of Australia's uranium export program. It also identified the long-term advantages for Australia's energy security flowing from the development of a national nuclear industry. The report has been condemned by anti-nuclear groups, who argue that proposals for Australia's continuing and, possibly, deeper involvement in the nuclear fuel cycle are unacceptable. The primary risk identified is that Australian uranium exports will contribute to global nuclear proliferation pressures, but claims concerning nuclear-related terrorism are also an increasingly common theme in anti-nuclear commentary. These arguments, in turn, are framed within a broader set of assumptions about the ‘immoral’ nature of any engagement in the nuclear fuel cycle. This article examines the most prominent claims put forward by anti-nuclear proponents and argues that many of them are based on an unnecessary inflation of risk.
No End in Sight: The Continuing Menace of Nuclear Proliferation
No End in Sight: The Continuing Menace of Nuclear Proliferation. By Nathan E. Busch. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2004. 512p. $40.00. This new work on the core issue of nuclear proliferation is somewhat unique in its focus and organization. Most of the works on this subject have a virtually standard organization involving a country-by-country breakdown of the most recent and most likely proliferators (India, Pakistan, Israel, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, etc.), according to their motives (why they want to go nuclear) and their capacity to do so, either by themselves or with the help of existing nuclear powers. The focus of these works is, therefore, on what often is called “horizontal proliferation,” having to do with the addition of extra members to the “nuclear club.” Regarding the Cold War superpowers, the United States and former USSR, there has been a largely separate literature devoted to “vertical proliferation,” and associated arms control measures and possibilities, in the context of nuclear deterrence theories and concepts. The uniqueness of Nathan Busch's book is that he combines these two genres, treating various aspects of the nuclear programs of the long-existent large nuclear powers, as well as the emerging nuclear programs of Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and so on as an integrated subject.
Arab Uprisings and the Outstanding Return to Democracy: Tunisia as a Model
In the wake of the Middle Eastern crises, the Tunisian case in focus has been doted as a unique phenomenon being that it was the Genesis of the revolution that ultimately spread across the Middle East like wild fire, but has eventually heralded a new dawn as democracy has incidentally returned to the Empire. This literature therefore looks closely at the extent to which the ‘DignityRevolution’ has been instrumental in the Middle East uprisings, which have brought an end to dynastic autocracies. The literature zeros in on the Tunisian uprising which has attracted global concerns, sympathy and has sparked interests in the international arena. The literature finds that the people hold colossal prospect in the uprising and its resultant effect, as it paved the way for the revolutionist to generate, gather and disseminate information on the condition of the entire region to the international community. The people in this context were of utmost importance and played a very crucial role in the creation of awareness, mobilization of protesters and utmost determining the direction of the uprising and also ensuring a speedy return to democratic rule. The paper submits that the role of the people in ensuring that the ruins of the uprising is not left littering around and democracy restored is highly commendable and should be a model for all other Arab countries involved in the revolution.