The first annual NPT Preparatory Committee in the 2015 round begins today. With a full work plan agreed in May 2010, delegates have a varied agenda, but it seems likely that Iran’s nuclear programme will form a shadow over discussions in Vienna.
Content Type
Themes arising from the BASIC Workshop in Doha
About 50 participants – representatives of Gulf states and experts from the region, and U.S. and European experts and officials, exchanged views on Nuclear Non-Proliferation in the Gulf during a conference on March 21st and 22nd. The workshop highlighted a number of themes, including: justice and rights, disarmament, universality and the health of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and Iran.
Time to reframe the debate on the Iranian nuclear programme
In this Open Democracy article, BASIC's executive director, Paul Ingram urges us to move away from traditional Cold War thinking and the dichotomy of us versus them. He explains that in order to properly address the issue of nuclear nonproliferation, we must reframe the debate on the Iranian nuclear weapons programme.
Nuclear weapons budget battles
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.
Norway’s Approach to NATO’s Deterrence and Defence Posture Review
NATO is currently debating its nuclear posture as part of the Deterrence and Defence Posture Review, for discussion at the May 2012 Chicago summit. This could have an important bearing on the future direction for NATO – an Alliance bent on maintaining superior and comprehensive capabilities, or one that plays a proactive role in multilateral disarmament.
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.
BASIC News: March – April 2012
BASIC made headlines this spring at a two-day conference in Doha on Nuclear Non-Proliferation in the Gulf and from the second BASIC Trident Commission report on the defense-industrial issues of the UK Trident nuclear weapons system.
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.