Alliances.

1. Alliances.

2. Types of Alliances. • An Alliance is an agreement by countries to work together, helping & supporting each other. • The UN (United Nations) does this diplomatically e.g. it discusses issues & passes resolutions about them which the member states are supposed to obey, it tries to stop fighting & provides economic & social help to poor people needing this in member states e.g.UNICEF helps children. • Military Alliances e.g. NATO are when countries co-operate to help defend themselves & stop fighting e.g. Bosnia & Kosovo. • Economic Alliances encourage members to trade & work together so they get richer, which benefits their populations e.g. EU (European Union).

3. NATO.

4. Why does NATO continue? • It has successfully kept the peace in Europe for over 50 years. • It provides cheaper & more effective defence collectively in NATO than one state could do on its own. • If one NATO member is threatened, the other members will help that country. This may deter anyone from attacking a NATO member. • It helps deal with dangerous nuclear weapons & materials around the world e.g. terrorist threat using a ‘dirty’ bomb. • It provides united opposition to threats to peace e.g. from terror groups like al Qaeda or war in Bosnia & Kosovo.. • It protects us from instability in the former USSR states e.g. two wars between Russia & Chechnya.

5. Why do E. European States want to join NATO? • To provide protection from Russia. • Other NATO members will defend them if attacked. • It gives them access to western technology to help defend themselves. • It will help dismantle nuclear weapons & materials safely which remain in former USSR republics. • To prevent international terrorism e.g. using nuclear materials. • To prevent war spreading e.g. from Bosnia & Kosovo to affect other areas in Europe.

6. What Factors affect World Peace? • Russia & former USSR states selling weapons (both conventional & nuclear) e.g. to China, India & Pakistan, so this technology spreads, making the world more dangerous. • India & Pakistan’s or Israel & Palestinians feud could affect the whole world if they use nuclear weapons. • The terrorist threat e.g. al Qaeda in New York on 9/11/01, Bali nightclub bomb Nov’02, British Embassy Istanbul Nov’03 & Madrid, Spain March’04. • Local wars spreading e.g. Bosnia & Kosovo in Europe & Sierra Leone civil war, W. Africa. • Political instability in the former USSR e.g. Georgia may affect other states in the area. • USA & allies waging war on Afghanistan & Iraq.

7. How War has changed. • Recently there are many small conflicts all over the world e.g. civil wars in African states like Rwanda & Sierra Leone. Other countries have sometimes sent troops to stop the fighting e.g. British troops went to Sierra Leone. • Countries have cut back the size & budget for their armed forces. • States now rely on smart weapons for more accurate bombing, so it hits its target with great force & causes few civilian casualties. • They want armed forces which co-operate, have highly skilled specialist groups e.g. SAS, are very mobile e.g. deploy from helicopter gunships, are flexible e.g. can meet a terrorist threat & can deploy rapidly in a crisis situation.

8. How these changes have affected NATO. • More E. European states have joined NATO. • Not all NATO members have supported America in its ‘War on Terrorism’ when it invaded Afghanistan & Iraq. Different countries supported this action e.g. USA, UK, Australia & Spain. • All NATO members feel threatened by terrorism & agree to co-operate to prevent it & catch the perpetrators.

9. Action by NATO In Bosnia.

10. War in Bosnia & Kosovo(These are both wars in Europe) • Before fighting started these two areas had different ethnic groups living together in the same villages. Once conflict started they practised ethnic cleansing. This meant they tried to get rid of other people from the area so only one ethnic group remained. In Bosnia the Serbs tried to remove the Croats & Muslims while in Kosovo the Serbs tried to remove the Albanians. • They did this by setting fire to their homes & farms & looting businesses, chasing their owners away or shooting them. • Some were rounded up & put in concentration camps where they were starved. • Soldiers mass raped women of other groups to increase the numbers in their ethnic group.

11. Created a ‘no fly’ zone for Serb aircraft. Imposed economicsanctions against Serbia e.g. don’t sell it oil (needed for war). Imposed a sea blockade to prevent weapons being landed for any of the groups Create ‘safe havens’ e.g. in Goradje & Sarajevo. Organise refugee resettlement e.g.in Canada Distributed aid e.g. food,blankets & medicine. IFOR – peace plan monitoring force SFOR – reconstruction carried out while troops patrolled area Allowed free & fair elections to take place Arrested & took for trial people accused of war crimes in the Hague, Holland (International Court of Justice) What Action did UN & NATO take in Bosnia?

12. Why did the US & its Allies attack Afghanistan?(part of war on Terrorism campaign) • To bring al Qaeda leaders to justice. • To end al Qaeda terrorism threat • To stop Afghanistan from being a terrorist base. • To destroy terrorist training camps. • To change the Afghan government so they would stop harbouring terrorists.

13. Why did the US & its Allies invade Iraq?(part of war on Terrorism campaign) • To end the government of Saddam Hussain a dictator who ruled the country by fear & treated many groups e.g. Kurds in the north & Marsh Arabs in the south particularly badly e.g. used Mustard gas to kill many. • To remove him from power because he supported Muslim terrorists who might attack the USA. • They thought he had wmd (weapons of mass destruction) e.g. nuclear, biological & chemical but none were found, since he could threaten Western government using them. • To replace him with a democratic government which would give the Iraqi people more freedom.