Knives are out in the initial skirmishes over the fiscal 2013 funding for the nuclear weapons complex in the U.S., as a key appropriations committee meets this week.
Blog
The Partnership
Book review of “The Partnership: Five Cold Warriors and Their Quest to Ban the Bomb” by Philip Taubman. At the height of the Cold War, eliminating nuclear weapons was seen as the province of dreadlocked hippies, peaceniks, and other “flower children” of the 1960s. It was a perspective that perversely marginalized the arms control agenda, just when it was needed the most.
Changing the narrative on U.S. tactical nuclear weapons in Europe
A couple of events in Washington this week arising from a new report will focus attention anew on the presence of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, as NATO foreign and defence ministers prepare to meet in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday ahead of next month’s NATO summit.
Spotlight on Iran’s nuclear program
This week begins with Iranians celebrating their national day of nuclear technology today… and ends on Friday and Saturday with long-awaited critical talks between Iran and the E3+3 in Istanbul. Some may view the Iranian national day as a deliberately provocative act, but that would be to misunderstand the politics.
Reflecting on Obama’s vision
This Thursday is three years since President Obama delivered his Prague speech, bringing nuclear non-proliferation back on the agenda with his vision of a world free of nuclear weapons.
U.S. Report on the CTBT
Although all eyes are currently on the second Nuclear Security Summit happening today and tomorrow in Seoul, South Korea, a significant development on nuclear issues will also happen this Friday, when the U.S. National Academy of Sciences releases it long-awaited report on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The report, while technical, will have far-reaching political implications for nuclear arms control.
Nuclear Non-Proliferation in the Gulf
On Wednesday and Thursday, BASIC is holding a timely conference in Doha, Qatar, on “Nuclear Non-Proliferation in the Gulf”. It comes the week before President Obama meets with world leaders in South Korea for the second Nuclear Security Summit of his presidency, and the month before the resumption of the diplomatic cycle culminating in the 2015 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Obama and Cameron have opportunity on nuclear arms
U.S. President Barack Obama will play host to UK Prime Minister David Cameron this week, as the Prime Minister will arrive in Washington D.C. tomorrow for a two day summit with the U.S. President.