The United States announced plans today to send a team of experts to Ukraine to investigate whether the former Soviet republic sold a radar system to Iraq. UAB political scientist Cassady Craft, Ph.D., says existing international agreements to control the trade of technology are seriously flawed and have failed to keep rogue nations like Iraq from obtaining weapons of mass destruction.
WHO: Cassady Craft, Ph.D., author of the book "Weapons for Peace, Weapons for War: The Effects of Arms Transfer on War Outbreak, Involvement and Outcomes," (Routledge, 1999), is an expert on the impact of the weapons trade on conflict processes, conflict and political violence and peace research.
WHAT: The four international export control agreements each involve nearly 40 nations and are designed to prevent rogue nations from obtaining technology used in making these dangerous weapons. But export control regulations aren't being strictly enforced by many nations involved in the agreements, says Craft. Also, because the agreements require consensus, efforts to strengthen export control rules can be defeated by a single vote.
"Nations must look at creating a new export control agreement with stronger rules and operating procedures rather then waiting until after rogue nations develop the weapons and then resorting to military strikes."
MORE: Craft is an assistant professor of political science at UAB and a senior research fellow with the Center for International Trade and Security in Georgia. He co-edited the book "Crossroads and Conflict: Security and Foreign Policy in the Caucasus and Central Asia," (Routledge, 2000). He has also published articles in Defense and Peace Economics, Problems of Post-Communism and the Journal of Peace Research.
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