Weapons of Mass Destruction: The New Face of Warfare

Description

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) have come a long way from poison-tipped arrows and diseased animal carcasses to high-tech, genetically modified organisms and aerosolized release of contagious viruses. In these days of a constant threat from unconventional weapons, Weapons of Mass Destruction: The New Face of Warfare takes you safely through the labyrinth of weapons-their evolution, specifications, underlying design, features and many more aspects. This book cuts through the technical jargon to maximize the reader`s understanding of the subject so that the global community can work out strategies for clearing the cloud of chaos and panic, developing multilateral control and improved intelligence, and defusing the threat of WMD. Through the various sections of the book, Chitra Lele brings out the how, who, when, where, why, what and what next of this critical topic of global security concern in an easy-to-understand manner. What is the historical context of WMD? What they are and what they do? What does the future hold? The book seeks to answer these questions as well as many more. The book is divided in five parts, each with its own unique focus. Part I covers the foundation topics like the history, types and academic definitions of WMD, the stand of countries towards WMD, and the main treaties and protocols defining the international security policy agenda. The last section in this part discusses the new types and future scenarios of WMD like economic warfare, nanotechnology, etc. Part II deals with various dimensions of the deadliest weapons of WMD spectrum, Nuclear weapons. It deals with a gamut of topics, right from types and treaties to weapons design and nuclear strategy, and from symptoms and effects to responses, treatment and more. Part II delves further into nuclear weapons-it discusses in detail the nuclear weapons of major nuclear powers like the United States, Russia, United Kingdom and France. Part III deals with Radiological weapons, right from the types and delivery systems to effects and responses. Part IV is all about Biological weapons-overview, delivery systems, the various agents and their potential as a bioweapon, and more. Part V focuses on the dynamics of Chemical weapons, right from basics to delivery systems and from the various chemical warfare agents to their potential as weapons of mass destruction. Appendix A lists various learning material and resources for further reading and research. Appendix B contains information about research institutions, government bodies, private organizations and international agencies working relentlessly towards realizing the vision of a world free of WMD. Appendix C lists more academic definitions of WMD.