| ID | 088145 |
| Title Proper | Weapons of the 21st century |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Belous, V |
| Publication | 2009. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | IN CONSIDERING MANKIND'S CENTURIES OLD HISTORY from a certain angle, it needs to be acknowledged that it is, essentially, a history of wars and weapons. Each era of world civilization is characterized by specific types of weapons. This primarily is due to the fact that parties involved in political, economic, ethnic or religious conflicts have sought to resolve them by force. The development of military technology has especially accelerated over the past two centuries, when the combat characteristics and casualty and damage producing elements of weapons started to be linked to the advancement of science and research, as well as the emergence of new technologies and materials. That naturally led to changes in forms and methods of warfare. In the 20th century, fundamentally new types of weapons appeared - chemical, bacteriological, and nuclear - capable of causing mass destruction.
The start of the third millennium confronted mankind with an ever more pressing problem: What is the future of human civilization? How to avoid major upheavals, which could confront mankind with the danger of losing its immortality? The awareness of the reality of the threat and the dire consequences involved in the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) has brought about a wide ranging movement in the world in favor of the prohibition and complete destruction of all the existing types of WMD. Significant steps have been taken along this difficult path. In 1975, the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction was adopted. In 1977, the international community adopted a similar convention with regard to chemical weapons. A number of Russian (Soviet)-U.S. agreements were signed on nuclear arms control and limitation, and an entire class of nuclear weapons was completely |
| `In' analytical Note | International Affairs (Moscow) Vol. 55, No. 2; p64-82 |
| Journal Source | International Affairs (Moscow) Vol. 55, No. 2; p64-82 |
| Key Words | Weapons - 21st Century ; WMD ; Bacteriological Weapons ; Toxin Weapons ; Chemical Weapons |