Plans are afoot for a major conference next year on a WMD Free Zone in the Middle East. BASIC held a small workshop in Malta for officials and experts in the region on the key issues involved, and here we publish the facilitator’s key issues from the meeting.
Analysis
Testing Times for the Test Ban
This Friday, at the United Nations, foreign ministers from 100 countries will adopt a declaration promoting concrete actions to ensure the entry into force of the global treaty banning nuclear tests.
IAEA and Iran
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will hold its fall Board meeting this week, and as usual Iran’s nuclear program will be on the agenda. Though some news reports have played up the Agency’s latest assessment as final proof that Iran is on the fast track to a nuclear weapon, others have pointed out that the IAEA’s indicators reveal a program that is moving more slowly
Revising NATO’s Nuclear Posture: The Way Forward
Dr Oliver Meier argues that NATO’s Strategic Concept did not live up to the expectations put forward earlier under U.S. President Barack Obama’s Prague Agenda. Meier proposes four steps that the Alliance should take through the ongoing Deterrence and Defense Posture Review (DDPR) in order to improve its nuclear stance.
“Concern Grows Over Prospects for Middle East Disarmament Meeting”
BASIC's Program Director Anne Penketh is interviewed by Elizabeth Whitman in this article covering the slow pace of progress toward holding a conference on a WMD-Free Zone in the Middle East in 2012.
Iran Update: Number 152
- Russia proposes new diplomatic effort; IAEA and Iran continue stalemate
- Nuclear program facing more delays
- Sanctions
- Assassination of Iranian with alleged links to nuclear program
Getting to Zero Update
Although implementation of the New START nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the United States was moving along, disagreement over missile defense continued to pose a serious blockage in the relationship. Diplomatic efforts around North Korea were at an uptick, and India and Pakistan have managed to revive stalled peace talks.
A South Asian Nuclear Reconciliation?
South Asia is often cited as the most intractable bilateral nuclear dispute on the planet. Even setting aside the divisive issue of Kashmir, the dispute between India and Pakistan has the added complexity that it involves at root the very identity of the two states.