Despite notes of caution and a lack of concrete offers, Presidents Obama and Rouhani set the stage for increased engagement at the UN last week. With calls for a WMD-free zone in the Middle East reaffirmed, Israel’s game plan will be central.
Analysis
The Iran-Russia Relationship & Reviving Nuclear Negotiations
Recent developments in the Middle East look to be further strengthening the relationship between Iran and Russia. The election of relative moderate, Hassan Rouhani, holds great promise for the future of the diplomatic approach to Iran’s nuclear programme that the Russians have invested a great deal in, and in which they have supported reduced sanctions.
Theater Nuclear Weapons – A Direct Threat to European Security
BASIC has had a lot to say over the years about U.S. theater nuclear weapons (TNW) in Europe. (I will repeat here, ad nauseam for some, that it is a grave mistake to call such weapons ‘tactical’; any deliberate nuclear explosion must have strategic consequences. ‘Theater’, meanwhile, simply denotes their basing posture and connotes their intended use, from within a military theater of operations.)
Iran, the United States, Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, at the United Nations
World leaders will descend upon New York this week to meet, and deliver their annual remarks to the United Nations General Assembly. The Syrian crisis is sure to take up a fair amount of diplomatic attention at the podium and on the sidelines, but there will also be opportunities for nuclear diplomacy.
Liberal Democrat Conference 2013
Policy Motion: Defending the Future – UK Defense in the 21st Century – When the Liberal Democrats were out of government, their party conferences were lively affairs with policies being debated passionately, with a little less concern than the two other main parties over issues of achievability and credibility of such policies. Ideology was less tempered by practicality. Poetry, not prose.
Syria: lessons for the nuclear debate
The threat of military intervention in Syria in response to alleged chemical weapons use by Bashar Al-Assad’s government was put on hold this past week as U.S. and Russian Foreign Ministers, John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov, negotiated a deal that would see Syria sign up to the U.N. Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and hand their chemical weapons stockpile over to the international community. As we edge towards a decision, it may be valuable to reflect on the core arguments that have been driving the debate.
Despotism or Democracy?
As the 2015 general election and the decision on whether to replace Trident approaches, it is important to consider the implications of the continued possession of nuclear weapons for British democracy. Historically, Britain’s bomb has been dependent on US support, a relationship notable for its opacity and lack of democratic accountability.
“Syria crisis Q&A: chemical weapons disarmament would face multiple hurdles”
BASIC Executive Director Paul Ingram was quoted in this article by Damien McElroy. The article briefly reviews Syria's chemical weapons holdings, and asks what it might take to seize and remove its stockpiles.