Ward Wilson was featured on the the front page of Foreign Policy with a popular article de-bunking the myth that the Second World War was won by nuclear weapons.
Analysis
Iran’s presidential election: new possibilities for nuclear negotiations?
There is a certain fatalism surrounding Iran’s presidential election this Friday, June 14th, with many people having lost interest because of the limited field of candidates (eight) being allowed to stand. This is coupled with soaring unemployment and inflation in the Islamic Republic, caused by mismanagement and encroaching economic sanctions from the Western countries over its nuclear program. Many of the country’s young people, who constitute a very large proportion of the electorate, are disheartened by the diplomatic damage to Iran’s international reputation, and the economic hardship that is impacting on their everyday lives.
IAEA Board of Governors meeting and Iran
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors will meet this week, starting today in Vienna, and Iran’s nuclear program will be on the agenda. The May 22ndIAEA report concluded that little has changed since previous assessments of the nuclear program – with Iran continuing to enrich nuclear fuel and Tehran and the Agency at loggerheads over what is necessary to show that all of Iran’s nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes.
Considering future US-Russian arms control & global dynamics
This week Moscow hosts an international security conference that will focus on the future of missile defense, more specifically, the need for effective US reassurances that it will never undermine Russia’s nuclear deterrent, and the possibility of cooperation on the issue.
A chance to make progress on FM(C)T?
The UN Conference on Disarmament (CD) begins its second session of the year this week, convening from May 13th until June 28th. Attempts in the CD to open negotiations on a treaty banning fissile materials for nuclear weapons use have been sitting in stalemate for, quite literally, decades.
Split: A Tale of Two Alliances
NATO & the Arab League
NATO is currently hosting its annual conference on WMD Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-proliferation in Split, Croatia. Participants have been considering how best to tighten the verification mechanisms and strengthen commitments states make in demonstrating they will not deploy WMD. The meeting is considering issues such as WMD terrorism, regional proliferation threats (particularly in the Middle East) and NATO’s contributions to non-proliferation and disarmament.
NATO’s Nuclear Guardians: Why NATO’s bureaucracy is unable to initiate change to, or support reform of, Alliance nuclear policy
BASIC senior consultant Ted Seay explores the institutional history of NATO’s theater nuclear weapons (TNW) and explains why in recent years the Alliance has been slow to move forward with changes that could further reduce this arsenal.
The time for positive ideas on the Zone is NOW!
BASIC's Executive Director, Paul Ingram, reflects on the NPT and where we are on the establishment of the Middle East WMD-free zone:
The NPT PrepCom this week has been overshadowed by the near-universal frustration over the lack of progress on holding a conference on a Middle East zone free of WMD. State after state got up in plenary to express that frustration, many condemning the co-sponsors’ decision in late 2012 to postpone.