Want not, waste not: The environmental impact of two generations of WMD proliferation and the implications for Asia

Over the past fifty years the development and testing of weapons of mass de struction (WMD) have caused tremendous environmental, health and social dam age to various parts of the planet. Six books dealing with various aspects of WMD are reviewed here, with the goal of broader conclusions about the re lationships between political systems, culture, and environment. The requir ements of local culture have strongly influenced decisions to acquire WMD, and the manners in which these weapons have been developed, tested and used . The Former Soviet Union is highlighted, since in that closed society WMD development and testing have been especially devastating. States considerin g WMD must be made aware of the true costs, and non-proliferation thinking must therefore include deep sensitivity to not only political decision-maki ng, but local culture. Suggestions are offered about how an "anthropology o f WMD'' might contribute to non-proliferation.