The Russian parliament completed on January 26 its process of advice and consent for ratifying the New START nuclear arms treaty, and President Dmitry Medvedev signed the ratification bill on January 28.
Both houses of the Russian parliament were required to approve of the treaty. The Duma (lower house) provided its final approval on January 25, by a vote of 350-96, with one abstention. The 137 members of the Federation Council (upper house) voted unanimously for the treaty a day later.
President Barack Obama has a golden opportunity in his State of the Union address tomorrow to advance his disarmament agenda by highlighting the benefits to U.S. security in the entry into force of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests. This requires the new Senate to ratify it.
“If the United States genuinely think that it will only be pressure on Iran that forces a compromise, they will not offer anything substantial at this stage, preferring to stick with the sanctions route, and are likely to stymie any deal.”
Paul Ingram, BASIC's executive director, was quoted in Euronews. To read more:
http://www.euronews.net/2011/01/21/iran-will-not-stop-enrichment-even-under-military-strike/
“This has become a contest of wills.” “Much of the Iranian challenge results from responses to what it sees as the strategically hostile environment created by the United States and her allies.”
Reprinted by The Hill's Congress blog.
Reflecting on the 2010 NPT Review Conference and future prospects, UK Amb John Duncan, for Multilateral Arms Control & Disarmament, interviews Amb Steffan Konstad, Dir Gen for Security Policy, Paul Ingram, BASIC's exectutive director, and Amb Eric Danon, French delegation leader to the NPT in 2010. The recording was made at Wilton Park in December 2010 and is shown on on the FCO website.
Select John Duncan's first podcast from: http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/what-we-do/fco-websites/podcasts/