In his article “The Rise and Fall of the South African Bomb,” Peter Liberman uses organizational politics theory to explain South Africa’s latent development of a nuclear weapons program before 1977.1 He cites post-1976 security threats (from the Soviet Union and Cuba) as triggers for the militarization of the nuclear program and the building of six bombs. Although Liberman is less clear about ...

As we approach the 21st century, there is an increasing worldwide awareness and threat regarding the use of biological warfare agents both for war and terrorist attack. Biological agents include microorganisms or biological toxins that are used to produce death in humans, animals and plants. They are characterized by low visibility, high potency, substantial accessibility and relatively easy de...

While chemical warfare agents have been used in military conflict for decades, it is only in the last two decades that increased attention has been paid to the acute and chronic health effects associated with exposure to these agents. The subsequent reports of ill-defined illnesses in the veterans of the Gulf War of 1991, followed by the 1995 sarin terrorist attack in the Japanese subway system...

The Russian aggression against Ukraine has unleashed new fears of a nuclear war and also due to direct indirect threats by the side. As consequence, it seems appropriate re-open debate about legality threat or use weapons, led somewhat inconclusive results ICJ Opinion 1996 on ‘Legality Threat Use Nuclear Weapons’. If some elements rationality are left in this war, weapons will not be employed U...

Today’s international law regime leaves little room for lawful use of nuclear weapons.1 At the same time, there is no prohibition of these weapons per se.2 This situation distinguishes them from biological and chemical weapons, which are subject to comprehensive bans under the 1972 Bacteriological and Toxin Weapons Convention and the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, respectively. The ‘legal ga...

In the present work we studied the incidence of fetal deaths among conceptions whose fathers or both parents were survivors of chemical warfare attacks by Iraq. We showed that there was significant correlation between frequency of fetal deaths among conceptions which eventuated after exposure of the parents to gas bombs compared to the frequency of fetal deaths among the control group. Thi...

the developments of the iran-iraq war scene following the iranian victory in faw which changed the balance of power in favor of iran caused the iraq not only to intensify her attacks against the residential areas and industrial circles, but also increases the using of chemical weapons during her attacks in ground battles as a deterrent factor. in other words, the iraqi decision-makers when unde...

With chemical warfare becoming an imminent threat, medical systems need to be prepared to treat the resultant mass casualties. Medical preparedness should not be limited to the triage and logistics of mass casualties and first-line treatment, but should include knowledge and training covering the whole medical spectrum. In view of the unique characteristics of chemical warfare casualties the us...

Throughout history, mankind has developed and employed novel weapons and countermeasures. Both offensive and defensive weapon systems are limited by the laws of nature. Consequently, military concepts and doctrines were designed by implicitly taking into account those limitations. The digital age has introduced a new class of weaponry that poses an initial challenge to the common understanding ...

background: sulfur mustard (sm) has been considered as a carcinogen in the laboratory studies. however, its carcinogenic effects on human beings were not well discussed. the main purpose of our study is to assess carcinogenesis of sm following acute and/or chronic exposures in human beings. methods: the valid scientific english and persian databases including pubmed, web of science, scopus, ira...