Dual-Use Tech, Asian Tigers, NPT, NAFTA, IAEA, Ethnic Cleansing, NATO
Dual-Use Technology
Dual-use Technology: Same Process → Uranium Enrichment → Two Applications. Uranium enrichment process can have two applications: Electricity and Weapons. Technology that might be used normally for civilian purposes but can also apply to military applications. An example of dual-use technology is nuclear power. Thirty countries use nuclear power for electricity, operating 460 commercial nuclear power plants, supplying 14% of world’s electricity; and 56 countries operate 250 research reactors. The problem is that the material produced by commercial nuclear reactors (Plutonium) can explode. An example would be missiles which were used for military aggression during the Cold War but also for people to reach the moon.
The Four Asian Tigers
The Four Asian Tigers or Asian Dragons are the highly developed economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. These regions were the first newly industrialized countries, which underwent rapid industrialization and maintained exceptionally high growth rates (in excess of 7 percent a year) between the early 1960s (mid-1950s for Hong Kong) and 1990s.
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
The NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament.
All countries pledge not to spread military nuclear technology. Nuclear-haves pledge to share nuclear tech for peaceful uses. Nuclear have-nots pledge not to use, divert nuclear tech to military uses. Nuclear haves pledge to disarm, give up their nuclear weapons (Art. VI). All members agree to international inspections and safeguards of the IAEA. NPT has been controversial, especially for large developing countries (India, Brazil). Deemed unfair, unjust, hypocritical — divides world into “haves” and “have-nots”.
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
North America Free Trade Agreement came into effect on January 1, 1994, lifting tariffs on virtually all goods traded among the US, Canada, and Mexico. NAFTA’s purpose is to encourage economic activity between North America’s three major economic powers, or the purpose of removing barriers to the exchange of goods and services among the three countries. For the purpose of removing barriers to the exchange of goods and services among the three countries.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. The main functions of the IAEA are to: encourage and assist research, development and practical application of atomic energy for peaceful uses throughout the world; establish and administer safeguards designed to ensure that such activity assisted by the Agency is not used to further any military purpose.
Ethnic Cleansing
Ethnic cleansing: The mass expulsion or killings of members of an unwanted ethnic or religious group in a society. Other tactics are terror and intimidation. Example: This meaning was used to describe the Serbs attacks on Muslims in Bosnia, and Albanians in Kosovo, as well as the Nazi Holocaust of European Jews in 1930s-40s. Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing often accompany, or are present in Ethnic Conflicts, but can occur independently too.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization, signed on April 4, 1949, is an international alliance that consists of 28 member states of North America and Europe. Its main purpose was to defend each other from the possibility of the communist Soviet Union taking control of their nation, or spreading communism around the world.