Analysis

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.

Tactical Nuclear Weapons in Europe

An event at the Brookings Institution tomorrow will highlight the future of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons in Europe.

Senior Fellow Steven Pifer, director of the Arms Control Initiative at Brookings, will discuss his recent paper “NATO, Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control”, which sets out recommendations to achieve the eventual removal of the estimated 180 B61 gravity bombs in five European countries. He will be joined on the panel by experts Hans Kristensen, from the Federation of American Scientists, and Frank Miller of the Scowcroft Group.

Experts Urge NATO to Reduce Role of Nuclear Weapons and Open the Door for the Removal of U.S. Tactical Warheads

More than two dozen nuclear experts and former senior government officials (including Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Gen. Bernard Norlain of France) are calling on NATO “to declare a more limited role for its nuclear capabilities that would help open the way for overdue changes to its Cold War-era policy of forward-basing U.S. tactical nuclear weapons. This would help facilitate another, post-New START round of reductions, which should involve of all types of Russian and U.S.

MAY – JUNE 2011

Nuclear diplomacy in London and Paris

Whilst the momentum in intergovernmental negotiations on nuclear disarmament has not been maintained into 2011, the pace of non-governmental activity continues, with a flurry of meetings over the summer. The BASIC Trident Commission met with George Shultz and others from NTI prior to the top level NTI-ELN-Hoover seminar on deterrence in Lancaster House the following day (May 20). Discussion ranged around the tensions of showing movement on disarmament whilst maintaining for now a robust nuclear deterrent.