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Littlewood/Lentzos: Strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention

Posted on December 16, 2024editor

Jez Littlewood is a member of Canadian Pugwash Group

Pubished as the Arms Control Association, December 2024: here

By the end of this month, states-parties will be halfway through their latest attempt to strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). This effort was launched in 2022 at the convention’s ninth review conference with the establishment of a working group to “identify, examine and develop specific and effective measures, including possible legally binding measures, and to make recommendations to strengthen and institutionalize the Convention in all its aspects.”

[…]

Substantial progress has been made in some areas, but beneath the surface is a broader conflict about the shape of arms control agreements generally. This raises a question about whether strengthening the BWC needs to follow the traditional model of legally binding multilateral agreements with declarations, inspections, investigations, and an international organization where consensus rules or whether states-parties can agree to a new model that allows states to opt in to the mechanisms with which they agree and opt out of any processes or new commitments they are unable to support.

Continue reading: here

Jaramillo: The 2% NATO Defence Spending Target is Not Evidence-Based Policymaking

Posted on December 16, 2024editor
Canadian troops were deployed to Latvia, where they led a multinational battlegroup, as part of NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence, 2019. Photo by NATO on flickr.

by Cesar Jaramillo, Chair of Canadian Pugwash Group
published by the CIPS Blog

With Donald Trump’s recent election victory in the United States, pressures on Canada to boost military spending to meet NATO’s 2% GDP target are bound to intensify. Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO members, including Canada, for not contributing “their fair share” to the alliance. 

“Simply put, increasing defence expenditures—whether or not they meet the 2% benchmark—does not guarantee security and may even undermine it.

NATO is already exceptionally well armed, and its collective military spending far surpasses that of Russia. The flawed narrative that the alliance is somehow lagging militarily persists largely due to selective use of statistics and rhetoric that emphasize relative percentages over absolute spending levels, which can distort the true picture of the global military balance.”

Read the full blog:  here

Manulak: Rethinking and Rebuilding the United Nations

Posted on December 9, 2024editor

Recent publications by Canadian Pugwash member Michael Manulak (et al.)

Canada and the United Nations

Michael Manulak and Kerry Buck  summarize their 2023 report “Canada and the United Nations: Rethinking and Rebuilding Canada’s Global Role.”  For the text of our original report: here. This report benefitted from the advice of a committee of eight former ambassadors (including five former Canadian UN Ambassadors).  Available here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/00207020241298266

“Setting the Record Straight”: A firm rejoinder to Jack Cunningham’s article on why Canada should marginalize the UN, also published in International Journal. Here Manulak and Buck challenge Jack’s skepticism toward the UN: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/00207020241298265

Podcast on the topic here and a paper in Policy Magazine here.

“The Allies’ Dilemma”: Manulak published this article in Policy Magazine, November 24, on the dilemmas posed by the Trump presidency for U.S. allies and partners.  On Europe/NATO, Climate, and Nuclear Disarmament, Trump 2.0 forces U.S. allies and partners to choose between the U.S. and the rules-based order it helped create.  He argues that a strategy of waiting out Trump is not viable: https://www.policymagazine.ca/the-allies-dilemma-responding-to-a-second-trump-term/

Canada and Cooperative Threat Reduction: “Canada can draw inspiration from past summits during G7 presidency”
Lloyd Axworthy, Allan Rock, and Manulak published an article in the Hill Times on Canada’s upcoming G7 presidency.  They argued that Canada should use this opportunity to strengthen and reinforce the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction financially and institutionally. This was a big Canadian initiative in 2002 and has played a key part ever since. It has an important role to play, including in enabling the green energy transition and supporting the Sustainable Development Goals. The link is here, with  a podcast on this here.

Contact: Michael W. Manulak, Associate Professor
Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University

www.michaelmanulak.com

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