Despite a renewed sense of purpose with a change in leadership and the crisis in Ukraine, the alliance continues to court its own irrelevancy.
Scotland stays in the UK but decisions on Trident still to come
It’s not only the Royal Bank of Scotland that will this morning have ditched their contingency planning for a vote in favour of Scottish independence.
Trident – a liability the UK can ill afford to keep
If Scotland votes yes for independence this week, the chances of the UK having to disarm its nuclear arsenal rise dramatically–and the global non-proliferation regime needs just such a shot in the arm. But even a close no vote should be cause for reassessment over the future of Trident.
A Yes vote in Scotland could finish Trident
This article was written by Paul Ingram and was published in the Ecologist.
NATO-Russia: Time for a change in direction
NATO heads of state meet in Newport, south Wales for their summit at the end of this week. The relationship with Russia will dominate the agenda—the only question being how far member states are openly willing to go to face down Moscow in the conflict over Ukraine.
Would Scotland’s nationalists disarm Trident?
The renewal of the “independent British nuclear deterrent” has met remarkably little debate in the UK. Except in Scotland, that is. This week the leader of the Scottish National party and first minister in Edinburgh, Alex Salmond, went head-to-head with Alistair Darling, the Labour leader of the ‘Better Together’ campaign, for a second live debate over next month’s referendum on Scottish independence.
What’s ahead for the United States and the United Kingdom?
Tomorrow the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee will host a hearing on the P5+1 negotiations with Iran. Witnesses will include Wendy Sherman, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and the U.S.’ lead negotiator on the Iran nuclear talks, and David Cohen, the Treasury Department's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Last weekend the six-month deadline (July 20th) for the interim Joint Plan of Action passed without a final deal being reached.
What’s behind the deepening US-UK nuclear weapon cooperation?
The Mutual Defense Agreement (MDA) lies at the heart of the special nuclear relationship between the United States and United Kingdom. The nuclear relationship set up by the MDA is seen to be beneficial to both the US and UK by cementing the bilateral relationship in sharing of nuclear weapons technology, as well as enshrining a certain uneven power structure in law.