Nuclear Disarmament after New START
The purpose of this paper is to examine and propose concrete nuclear disarmament measures which should be taken following the entry into force of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) on February 5, 2011. This treaty is the first concrete outcome from the famous Prague address by President Barak Obama in April 2009 and there still remain many items which should be pursued and implemented. I will take up the issues of the further reduction of strategic nuclear weapons, the reduction of non-strategic nuclear weapons, the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), the negotiation of a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT), and the consideration of a nuclear weapons convention. I will examine the circumstances surrounding each issue, and make proposals for their realization.
A Critique of the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, 8 July 1996 : The Nuclear Weapons Case
A CRITIQUE OF THE ADVISORY OPINION OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE ON THE LEGALITY OF THE THREAT OR USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS, 8 JULY 1996. THE "NUCLEAR WEAPONS CASE". The General Assembly of the United Nations, by Resolution, requested the International Court of Justice to give its Advisory Opinion on the following legal question: Is the threat or use of nuclear weapons in any circumstance permitted under intemational/aw? The question raises a number of legal, political and moral issues which go to the heart of the development of public international Iuw, and of relations between States in the United Nations era. Central to all such issues is the tension, both legal and political, which exists between the five declared nuclear weapon States (the Pemmnent Members of the United Nations Security Council) and most non-nuclear weapon States. Essentially, the latter take the view that the threat or use of nuclear weapons should be illegal in all circumstances, largely in terms of the humanitarian laws of armed conflict. The former insist that, in the absence of specific prohibitior::, nuclear weapons are not illegal in all foreseeable circumstances. This dichotomy has been institutionalised in the 1968 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, which solidified the discriminatory treatment accorded to nuclear weapons by the nuclear weapon States during the Cold War practice of deterrence. The nub of the Court's findings was that it was unable to conclude definitively whether the threat or use of nuclear weapons would be lawful or unlawful in extreme circumstances of self-defence, in which the very survival of a State would be at stake. I
Avian infectious bronchitis.
Avian infectious bronchitis (IB) is caused by the gammacoronavirus infectious bronchitis virus (IBV). The virus causes infections mainly in chickens and is a significant pathogen of commercial meat and egg type birds. IB is an acute, contagious disease characterised primarily by respiratory signs in growing chickens. In hens, decreased egg production and quality are often observed. Some strains of the virus are nephropathogenic and produce interstitial nephritis and mortality. The severity of IBV-induced respiratory disease is enhanced by the presence of other pathogens, including bacteria, leading to chronic complicated airsacculitis. Diagnosis of IB requires virus isolation or demonstration of viral nucleic acid from diseased flocks. Demonstration of a rising serum antibody response may also be useful. The widespread use of live and inactivated vaccines may complicate both the interpretation of virus isolation and serology findings. The occurrence of antigenic variant strains may overcome immunity induced by vaccination.