The new Trident Commission would be an “open-minded look at the issue from first principles ..… Should the UK be a nuclear power at all, and if it should, is Trident the only or best way to go about it?” proposed Ian Kearns, research director of BASIC.
Analysis
BASIC Trident Commission Launch Film
A short film about the BASIC Trident Commission Launch
This Week – Time for a New Cross-Party Examination of Trident Renewal
On Wednesday of this week BASIC will launch a cross party Trident Commission to take advantage of the opportunity that was opened up by the British government to consider its nuclear weapons policy, when it decided to delay the timetable for the construction of the replacement submarines on which the Trident system crucially depends.
January 2011
New START was ratified by the US Senate in December, and then by Russia last week. It is expected that the instruments of ratification will be exchanged to bring it into force by the end of this week, in Munich at the security conference.
This Week – Moving Beyond New START
Whilst protests and potential revolutions rock the Middle East, and comparisons are made with 1989, the post Cold War Euro-Atlantic security elite meet in Munich for the annual security conference. This has in recent years been the venue of choice for major announcements affecting European security, and in particular relations between NATO and Russia.
Russia ratifies New START
The Russian parliament completed on January 26 its process of advice and consent for ratifying the New START nuclear arms treaty, and President Dmitry Medvedev signed the ratification bill on January 28.
Both houses of the Russian parliament were required to approve of the treaty. The Duma (lower house) provided its final approval on January 25, by a vote of 350-96, with one abstention. The 137 members of the Federation Council (upper house) voted unanimously for the treaty a day later.
Iran Update: Number 148
• Talks in Istanbul fail to break impasse
• Sanctions and economic impact on Iran
• Speculation intensifies over Iranian nuclear capabilities
• Foreign Minister Mottaki replaced with nuclear chief Salehi
• Revelations in the WikiLeaks cables
Talks in Istanbul fail to break impasse
This Week – State of the Union: an opportunity to take the next step
President Barack Obama has a golden opportunity in his State of the Union address tomorrow to advance his disarmament agenda by highlighting the benefits to U.S. security in the entry into force of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests. This requires the new Senate to ratify it.