Paul Mobbs & MEIR:
‘World in Chains’:
Nuclear Weapons, Militarisation and their Impact on Society
‘World in Chains’, edited by Angie Zelter, was published in June 2014. I was invited to contribute a chapter, entitled ‘Drones, Cyberwarfare and Democracy’.
As I left the stage after giving a short talk about the military technologies used at USAF Croughton, I was asked if I would be prepared to write a chapter for a forthcoming book. I said, “Yes”. The reply, “Brilliant; can you get it to me in two weeks?”.
Published June 2014, ‘World in Chains’ focuses on a lack of respect for international humanitarian law and the integrity of a society able to act compassionately in the wider public interest.
It presses the need for the UK government to work on a global ban for nuclear weapons, and criticizes the militaristic mind-set that is currently dominating most societies as the cause of many catastrophic world problems.
The book is edited by Angie Zelter, and the essays cover a variety of topics:
- Chances for Peace in the Second Decade – What is Going Wrong and What We Must Do, by Professor Paul Rogers;
- The Climatic and Humanitarian Impacts of the Use of the UK's Nuclear Weapons, by Dr Philip Webber;
- Why Climate Change and Nuclear Disarmament Talks Must be Linked, by Kevin Lister;
- Finance, War and Conflict, by Mary Mellor;
- Swords and Ploughshares: Industrial Agriculture as Warfare and the Need for a Paradigm Shift, by Helena Paul;
- Who profits from the Atomic Weapons Establishment?, by Tom Anderson;
- Arms companies, Nuclear Weaponry and the Military, by Kaye Stearman;
- Nuclear Weapons and Militarisation in the UK, by Owen Everett;
- Refugees and Asylum Seekers: Human Debris of the West's War Machine, by Dr Trevor Trueman;
- The Use of Radioactive Material in War, by Joanne Baker;
- Civil Nuclear Power and Nuclear Weapons Proliferation, by Pete Roche;
- A Vast Endless Experiment – Military Radioactive Pollution, by John Laforge;
- Of Sledgehammers and Nuts: Counter-Terrorism and Anti-Nuclear Protest, by Siân Jones;
- Women, Men and Nuclear Weapons, by Cynthia Cockburn;
- Linking US Military Empire and UK Nuclear Weapons, by Bruce Gagnon;
- 'The Future of the United Kingdom's Nuclear Deterrent': An Ethical Critique, by Professor John Hull;
- Banning Nuclear Weapons: necessary and achievable (in our lifetimes), by Dr Rebecca Johnson; and
- Drones, Cyberwarfare and Democracy – my own contribution.
The draft text of of my chapter, Drones, Cyberwarfare and Democracy, is available to download.
I have subsequently written a new study that expands the themes of this chapter of the book –
USAF Croughton: Networked Warfare, and the Intelligence-Fusion Complex (June 2018).
I also write regularly on this subject, and give presentations, on behalf of CroughtonWatch.