Blog

Israel and the US: Nuclear weapons agreements

A recent article in Haaretz outlines previous agreements between US Presidents and Israel that sought to protect the Israeli nuclear deterrent from any possible US arms control proposals for the Middle East. Israel is now concerned that President Obama will not honor these informal arrangements, and is looking for reassurance that the supply of military technology will continue.

A new American president and nuclear weapons

As one of the longest and most closely followed US campaigns has drawn to a close, the implications of this election for getting to zero are unknown. The next president faces the monumental challenge of coping with two wars and a worldwide economic crisis. These issues may detract from the time and energy that the next Administration can spend on nuclear security.

US-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement: What comes next?

On October 1, 2008 the US Congress passed the US-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement. The long anticipated agreement would allow US companies to trade nuclear technology, information, and material to India. It has faced several hurdles, including first passing the US Congress in 2006, the Indian Parliament in July, the IAEA Board of Governors in August, and the Nuclear Suppliers Group in September. Controversy surrounds the agreement because, India is not an established member of the nonproliferation regime and it detonated nuclear devices in 1998.

Russian resurgence and diplomacy

Whether the Russian operation against Georgia was premeditated or not, the leadership has used it effectively to strengthen nationalistic support within the country, and to challenge the view domestically and internationally of expanding, unbridled US dominance.

Launch of Adelphi 396: Abolishing nuclear weapons

George Perkovich is the leading author of a new Adelphi paper, commissioned in part by the UK Foreign Office and trailed by Margaret Beckett, whilst Foreign Secretary, in a speech at the Carnegie Conference in 2007 about the technical and political aspects around moves towards a world free of nuclear weapons. The paper was launched in Washington on 16th September at the Carnegie Endowment.