More than two dozen nuclear experts and former senior government officials (including Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Gen. Bernard Norlain of France) are calling on NATO “to declare a more limited role for its nuclear capabilities that would help open the way for overdue changes to its Cold War-era policy of forward-basing U.S. tactical nuclear weapons. This would help facilitate another, post-New START round of reductions, which should involve of all types of Russian and U.S.
Content Type
Toward a Meaningful NATO Deterrence and Defense Posture Review
A group of experts, including former officials from offices of State, Defence and military services, have sent a letter to NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, to offer a series of recommendations for the Alliance's Deterrence and Defence Posture Review.
NATO’s Nuclear Posture and Burden Sharing Agreements: an Italian Perspective
BASIC in cooperation with the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) hosted a roundtable in Rome on June 15, 2011 to explore the issue of “NATO’s Nuclear Posture and Burden Sharing Arrangements: an Italian Perspective.”
MAY – JUNE 2011
Nuclear diplomacy in London and Paris
Whilst the momentum in intergovernmental negotiations on nuclear disarmament has not been maintained into 2011, the pace of non-governmental activity continues, with a flurry of meetings over the summer. The BASIC Trident Commission met with George Shultz and others from NTI prior to the top level NTI-ELN-Hoover seminar on deterrence in Lancaster House the following day (May 20). Discussion ranged around the tensions of showing movement on disarmament whilst maintaining for now a robust nuclear deterrent.
Getting the Balance Right
Three high-level meetings this week sum up the interconnected challenge of global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.
Academic Lays Out Plan for Disarmament
Recommendations from a report by BASIC board member Andrew Cottey were quoted in the Irish Evening Echo on July 11, 2010. The report was published to coincide with talks on multilateralising disarmament.
Revising NATO’s nuclear deterrence posture: prospects for change
We concluded the first leg of our series of Hewlett-sponsored seminars with a two-day, high-level meeting in Brussels on May 23-24, 2011, shortly after the deterrence and defence posture review launch in Berlin. The timing was ideal.
The EU and the Middle East WMD Free Zone
Tomorrow and on Thursday this week, the European Union has an opportunity to influence the preparations for a conference on a Middle East WMD-free zone.