Hussain |
Major General (Retired) Zakaria Hussain, advisor to the President of Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Professor of Strategic Sciences, said this wide gulf is also due to the non-commitment to science and technology by some nations.
"This has given rise to a bitter conflict stemming from attempts by the less developed countries to bring in high technology, that is monopolised and is in the exclusive possession of the advanced countries" he said.
Hussain was speaking on The Role of Technology in Civilian Activities, Especially in Trade Wars.
He said, "The development of the science and technology has created a wide gap between countries that had paid attention to husband their scientific and technological potential and making them as fundamental components of their national security, and between those developing countries that aspire to achieve their security in accordance with their available capabilities".
The expert noted that due to the great significance of technology and its impact on scientific research for civilian purposes, it has received the same attention as it did for military purposes.
Hussain added that building a scientific and technological base had become one of the most significant pivots of economic development.
According to the expert, "The basic problem is how to exploit the available human resources to reinforce the national security and overcome the problems of subordination, heteronomy and submission".
He added, "National security is based on important political, economic, social and military dimensions, which associate and react with one another.
"Beside this the formation of the scientific and technological base gives strength to support the national security. The brain drain resulting from the emigration of creative minds constitutes a serious set back to the national security.
Speaking about the information revolution in the Space Age, the expert said that it had further widened the already existing gap between the under developed and developed countries. Many countries in Europe would also fail to keep pace with U.S. in this field, as the costs were too prohibitive to compete with the US.
Hussain spoke on the impact of space technology on other technologies and information technology on trade war.
He said that in view of this revolution in information, colonialism had acquired a new meaning, different form from its conventional meaning which was associated with soldiers, rifles, guns and establishing colonies in foreign lands.
"Today colonialism has taken a new connotation. It means engagement in economic surveillance, gathering data and statistics about other countries, resources, seeking secrets about the weaknesses and strengths of their economies, information about their human resources, their material capabilities and their social contradictions and anomalies.
All these could constitute an economic colonisation and trade war, which form the essential roots of any military colonisation.
He concluded by talking about the role of space satellites in spying that had provided a new dimensions in this field with regard to accuracy and comprehensiveness, eliminating the element of an individual's ability and risk in performing such assignments.
He also talked about the role of such space satellites in discovering the national resources on earth.
