European Union foreign ministers agreed today a phased imposition of an oil embargo, committing to refrain from making any new contracts and phasing out existing contracts by July 1.
Blog
The Doomsday Clock should stay where it is
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists will tomorrow announce whether the danger of a nuclear cataclysm has moved closer since last year. The minute hand of the Bulletin’s Doomsday clock, which has measured since 1947 how close the world stands from catastrophic destruction through its symbolic proximity to midnight, has stood at six minutes to midnight since January 2010.
The Nuclear World in 2012
This week marks the fifth anniversary of the first Wall Street Journal op-ed from the four former US politicians, often known as the “Gang of Four”, that opened up the recent movement pulling together establishment support for serious moves towards multilateral nuclear disarmament.
News Backgrounder: North Korea and Nuclear Weapons
The sudden death of North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong-Il, from a heart attack has naturally raised questions about the transition in the isolated nuclear-armed state as power is handed to his youngest son Kim Jong-Un believed to be in his late twenties.
New START anniversary and old nuclear baggage
Thursday of this week marks the first anniversary of the U.S. Senate’s vote in favor of ratifying the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which established verifiable limits on Russian and U.S. strategic nuclear weapons.
Wilton Park arms control conference
Some of the world’s leading nuclear arms controllers are meeting at the UK Foreign Office conference centre in Wilton Park, Sussex, this week. As the week progresses, there will be discussions on the state of the nuclear non-proliferation system, the initiatives currently in train after the NPT agreement around an Action Plan in May 2010, and prospects for progress in the current five-year NPT round that culminates in the 2015 Review Conference.
NATO Needs to Act on Nuclear Policy
NATO foreign ministers meet, less than six months before the summit in Chicago. They have a full agenda, not least the debates over the management of withdrawal from Afghanistan and discussing lessons from the Libya experience.
The Fallout from the British Embassy Attack in Iran
The storming of the British Embassy in Tehran on Tuesday, and the subsequent diplomatic fallout, marks a serious deterioration in the ongoing standoff between Iran and the West and seems sure to set back further diplomatic efforts to address Iran’s nuclear program.