Combat pistols: seeking a man-stopper: experience in Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq in recent years has reinforced the importance of compact weapons in operations in urban environments. The pistol is a defensive weapon for the overwhelming majority of military users such as staff officers, vehicle and aircraft crew members and others who cannot be encumbered with a rifle or carbine.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Combat soldiers such as machine gunners, military police officers and naval boarding parties are usually armed with pistols as a secondary weapon. Special operations forces are one of the few user groups to employ the pistol as both a defensive and an offensive weapon. Whether...

Nuke 'em if ya got 'em.
Byline: The Register-Guard The Bush administration's Orwellian doctrine of pre-emptive military attack as a justifiable form of self-defense has spawned a proposal from the Pentagon to incorporate nuclear weapons among the nation's "defensive" options. In other words, in for a dime, in for a dollar....

O'Reilly faults Kerry on vote; Iraq issue raised during primary debate.
Byline: John J. Monahan BOSTON - In their only debate before the Sept. 16 primary, Edward O'Reilly challenged U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry's vote authorizing military action in Iraq and complained that the Massachusetts Democrat may not serve out his term if Barack H. Obama wins the...

The vast implications of America's withdrawal from Iraq are severe.
The Democrats have taken over Capitol Hill, and have a mandate to withdraw American forces from Iraq ASAP. It is likely that in the medium to long term, this move would have great impact on Israel. U.S. elections revolve around a number of issues, but there is...

Superpresidentialism and the military: the Russian variant.
In any type of polity, the relationship between the executive and the armed forces is a quintessential institutional link. In most democracies the control of the military is the shared responsibility of the president, his or her government, and the legislative branch. Although the presidential role may be paramount,...

Not-so-deadly force: the search for a kinder, gentler knockout punch.
Brilliant green lasers that dazzle the eye. High-tech projectiles that cling to clothing or skin and deliver immobilizing electric shocks. Mines that fling nets to ensnare bad guys a la Spiderman. These are just a few of the less-than-lethal weapons that may soon stock the arsenals of military and...

Keep Space for Peace!
Excerpts from WILPF's Keep Space for Peace statement Fifty years ago, on 4 October 1957, the launch of the Sputnik satellite changed the world forever. A new era of political, military, technological, and scientific developments began as the world entered the space age. Sputnik roused fears of...

The US-India nuclear accord: implications for the nonproliferation regime.
The US-India nuclear accord of July 2005 and the subsequent Henry Hyde nuclear cooperation act of December 2006 have generated considerable debate among supporters and opponents largely on the basis of its potential implications for the nuclear nonproliferation regime. Critics argue that the agreement undermines confidence in the nonproliferation...

The use of cluster munitions in the war on terrorism.
I. INTRODUCTION Militaries throughout the world value cluster bombs or cluster munitions for their unique and destructive power. (1) But in conflicts where cluster bombs are utilized and when the battles have ended, unexploded cluster bomblets inevitably remain, sometimes wounding and killing innocent people when they return...

Tendencies in the development of combined-arms combat tactics.
Development of military art and its components was repeatedly discussed by Voennaia mysl' (Military Thought). Its articles on this theme do not pass unnoticed by the military readership. More than that, they engender an enhanced interest. And this is not surprising. The contemporary leap in the development of electronics...