The Canberra Commission: Paths Followed, Paths Ahead

Despite its inauspicious start and virtual abandonment by the new Coalition government in Australia, the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons continued to attract international attention in arms control and disarmament circles

History as a barrier to charting a better future

The official history of any nation, however big or small, embodies a blend of fact and fiction. Besides such politicized construction of history, Asia must also deal with harmful historical legacies, revisionist history, and territorial revisionism that are threatening its peace and economic renaissance. The squabbles over history and remembrance have already cast a long shadow over Asia’s extraordinary rise. Yet history problems are only intensifying, with growing nationalism among the major actors fueling disputes over everything from territory and natural resources to war memorials and textbooks. The time is overdue to draw a line under the past. Nations in the region must find ways to commemorate their past without alienating, insulting, or offending their neighbors. Asian nations cannot change the past, but they can strive to shape a more cooperative future ̶ without, of course, forgetting history’s lessons

La sécurité de l'Inde après les essais nucléaires

India's Security After the Nuclear Tests, by Brahma Chellaney India's recent nuclear-weapons tests will help instil a sense of security in the world's second most populous nation, which faces two nuclear-armed, closely aligned adversaries. India's real test, however, has only now begun: the tests were the crucial but first step, and a long, tough road lies ahead for the country. India faces formidable challenges to build a credible nuclear deterrent especially against China. Fissile-material and financial constraints indicate India will be able to build a very small nuclear arsenal, whose small size will impose high reliability and protection standards.Cet article de Brahma Chellaney analyse, d'un point de vue indien, les conséquences des essais nucléaires de mai 1998 sur la sécurité de l'Inde. Partant d'une vision réaliste de relations interétatiques fondées sur la puissance et la force militaire s'appuyant sur la détention d'armes de destruction massive, il justifie la volonté indienne de constituer une dissuasion nucléaire crédible et une politique de puissance notamment face à la menace nucléaire et balistique qui pèse sur elle et au souhait de Pékin de confiner l'Inde au sous-continent. L'Inde, selon lui, doit s'efforcer de dépasser la « mentalité de colonisé » qui la caractérise et qui a inhibé pendant longtemps sa politique extérieure, et ainsi devenir une grande puissance qui soit capable, en particulier, de tenir tête à la Chine.Chellaney, Neal Mercedes. La sécurité de l'Inde après les essais nucléaires. In: Politique étrangère, n°3 - 1998 - 63ᵉannée. pp. 507-529