The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was agreed in 1996 after more than 2000 nuclear tests had left a lasting, poisonous legacy. The treaty’s negotiations had already contributed to the indefinite extension of the NPT the year before (having contributed to the failures of the 1980 and 1990 NPT Review Conferences). Confidence in arms control and disarmament was high, and nuclear arsenals were falling dramatically. Strategic relations were good. But things look very different today, with high levels of distrust and low confidence in achieving further disarmament progress.
Analysis
Brendan’s Call to Challenge Hate
We need to look again at identity politics. Horror, despair, rage, confusion: they and other emotions are all understandable reactions to Jo’s killing last week.
Moving the OEWG forward
Global multilateral nuclear disarmament has proven over the last 70 years to be a process characterised by stagnation, originating from a series of competing international interests.
Moving the OEWG forward
Global multilateral nuclear disarmament has proven over the last 70 years to be a process characterised by stagnation, originating from a series of competing international interests.
Commons Vote on Trident Imminent?
The UK Conservative government is considering pushing a rushed vote on Trident in July to divert attention from Brexit debates and exploit Labour’s internal divisions. However, such a move could be premature and politically risky. Delaying the vote could yield greater strategic benefits and allow more comprehensive debate and planning.
Remembering Jo Cox MP
BASIC today mourns the death of Jo Cox MP, an extraordinary dynamo of energy and positive action. She worked tirelessly for a better world, and her death was a senseless act of violence.
There Are Fewer Nuclear Warheads Than a Year Ago
BASIC’s executive director, Paul Ingram, was quoted in this iNews article by Susie Coen about the world’s number of nuclear weapons.
Concerning SSBN Vulnerability - recent papers
Two BASIC papers published in recent months (The Inescapable Net: Unmanned Systems in Anti-Submarine Warfare and A Primer on Trident's Cyber Vulnerabilities), have asserted the UK’s strategic nuclear deterrent is in danger of becoming vulnerable in such a way that it can no longer be relied upon to fulfil its primary role.