The U.S. Senate passed its long-awaited defense bill on December 4th, authorizing a billion budget for defense spending in FY 2013. During the coming week, the “conference committee” will be tasked with reconciling this bill with the House version. This process is taking place against the backdrop of intense debates over the looming “fiscal cliff”: the across-the-board cuts which threaten to come into effect if a deal on public spending is not agreed by January 1.
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Acclaimed Arms Control Anniversaries
For those interested in understanding how we can seize opportunities to reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons and enhance regional and global security, this week sees two significant anniversaries.
On December 3rd 1989, Mikhail Gorbachev and George Bush met in Malta to declare an end to the Cold War after two days of talks.
Announcements made on the Helsinki ‘2012 Conference’
The long-awaited announcements on the delay to the Helsinki ‘2012 Conference’ on a nuclear and other WMD free zone in the Middle East came out over the weekend from the co-sponsors.
The E3+3 discuss Iran after release of IAEA report
On Wednesday, Catherine Ashton, will host representatives from the E3+3 (P5+1: US, UK, China, Russia, France, and Germany) in Brussels to discuss continued efforts to find a diplomatic solution to discourage Iran from augmenting its nuclear program. Ashton, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has facilitated meetings between the E3+3 and Iran since 2009, which have so far yielded limited results.
What will be the fate of the Helsinki Conference?
An announcement is widely expected this week that the intergovernmental conference in Helsinki, on the establishment of a nuclear and WMD-free Zone in the Middle East, will be postponed.
Nuclear weapons beyond the election
The U.S. election season now draws to a close, and as expected, not too much was made of nuclear weapons during the presidential race. The economy, and near the end of the campaign season the mega-storm in the northeast, overshadowed almost all other issues.
Are UK commitments to the SSBN now irreversible?
Today, UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond is at the Faslane nuclear base in Scotland to announce another contract (worth £350m) for BAE Systems, part of the £3bn of projects that will be spent on development and initial manufacture on the current like-for-like replacement before the final decision is taken on renewal in 2016.
Cuban Missile Crisis 50th Anniversary
50 years ago this week, the world held its breath, waiting to see if nuclear armageddon would be averted, as the Cuban Missile Crisis reached its climax.